The Locanda del Ghetto is a "Town House Suites 1st Category" property (the equivalent of a three-star hotel) and has excellent guest ratings from Venere.

Restaurant Le Balthazar A "Kosher boutique hotel," the Giardino del Ghetto, offers half- and full-board rates, with meals in its Le Balthazar restaurant. (Shabbat meals are available, and you can dine in the restaurant's garden during the warmer months.)

Gam Gam is a kosher restaurant with Venetian, Italian and Israeli dishes on its extensive menu. You can dine in or order kosher meals for takeout or delivery to your hotel. (See our Gam-Gam restaurant review.)

Reaching the Ghetto

Walk or take the vaporetto (water bus) to the Ponte delle Guglie/Ghetto stop on the Fondamenta di Cannaregio, just above the Ponte delle Guglie bridge. You'll see a low rectangular arched doorway next to the Gam Gam restaurant. Go through the arch, and you'll be in the Ghetto Vecchio. Keep on walking to reach the larger (and older) Ghetto Nuovo, where you'l also find the Jewish Community Museum.

Need clearer instructions? See the map and directions for the old Al Faro, a trattoria-pizzeria in the Ghetto Nuovo that closed in early 1998. (It later reopened under new ownership.)

If you're coming on foot from the Piazza San Marco or Rialto, you can turn right from the Rio terrà S. Leonardo or the Rio terrà Farsetti and work your way toward the Calle Farnese and its bridge (see photo above). Or, if you're coming from the Madonna dell'Orto Church or its vaporetto stop, head west on the Fondamenta degli Ormesini until you see a small footbridge leading to the Campo Ghetto Nuovo.

Web links

Virtual Jewish History Tour: Venice
Rebecca Weiner wrote this article for JewishVirtualLibrary.org.

Wikipedia: Jewish Community of Venice
This page has basic information and a handful of Web links on past and current Jewish life in Venice.

The Ancient Jewish Cemetery at The Lido of Venice
Venice actually has two Jewish cemeteries on the Lido: one old, one new. The older (and smaller) cemetery is said to be the oldest graveyard in Europe, dating back to a time when Jews were buried in sand on the edges of the Venetian lagoon.

Jewish Venice
Emissaries from the Lubavitcher Rebe in New York established a local chabad in 1991; today, the community operates a rabbinical academy, a Jewish library, a chabad house, the Gam Gam kosher restaurant (see below), and a Web site that doesn't always work.

Venice's Ghetto

Where to stay and dine

Reaching the Ghetto

Web links

Related Venice for Visitors articles