Inside Venice’s Jewish ghetto

In the early sixteenth century, Venice confined its Jewish population to a restricted quarter on an island in the city. This became known as the first ghetto, a word that will come to define centuries of Jewish segregation and persecution. But why did Venice create it? And what was life like inside its walls? In this episode of the History Extra podcast, Emily Briffitt speaks to historian Alexander Lee, who is a finalist for the twenty twenty six Cundal History Prize about the origins of the Venetian ghetto, the tensions behind its creation, and the vibrant Jewish community that developed within it.

It's a real pleasure to have you on today to talk all about your new book, The First Ghetto, Venice and the Jews. What was happening in Venice in the early sixteenth century that led to the creation of this first Jewish ghetto? Why then? It's a very good question, Emily. Why the first ghetto and why the first ghetto in Venice? Well The first thing to say is that it certainly wasn't the first time a Jew population was confined to a particular court of a city. Such things had been going on for literally centuries by the time the Venetians thought of it, in their own city. In fact they'd even imposed confinement on Jewish populations in other Venetian subject cities around the Mediterranean long before that. Yeah. Nevertheless, the ghetto in Venice does represent a

Turning point in the history of the concept, partly because it was conceptually a lot clearer than any other previous form of Jewish settlement. Secondly it had a very clear name, that was untethered to anything like a street or square. By which Jewish quarter cells were previously been known, and thirdly because Venice was such an emblematic city at the time. Now the idea of the ghetto, the idea of confining Jews to the a particular island in Venice. Arose out of a paradox. at the heart of Venice's relations with the Jews.

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