History of the Jews of Venice
Trade with the East had turned the city of Venice into a European maritime power. Venice had an important but complicated relationship with the Jews. My impression is that Venetian policy towards the Jews – and Sephardim in particular – was driven by pragmatic self-interest but unlike the Medici in Florence they were unable to abandon their Catholic anti-Semitic prejudice.
Sephardic Jews, including Isaac Abravanel, passed through the city following the Expulsion in 1492. In 1516 the Venetian government decided to deal with the ‘problem’ of Jews by forcing them to live in the geto (ghetto), the foundry area, which was locked at night. Sephardic Jews, it is reported, did not settle in noteworthy numbers before 1541. There were three Jewish communities in Venice – the Sephardi/Levantine, Ashkenazi and Italian. Inevitably, the Sephardim held themselves superior to the others, and were generally recognised as such.
A letter from the Portuguese ambassador in 1525 reports that a large number of Portuguese Jews were passing through Venice on their way to Turkish territory so they could return to Judaism. This is almost two decades before dona Gracia de Nasi arrived in the city in 1544.
My understanding is that after the Expulsion the Sephardic diaspora originally looked to the bet din of Venice for religious guidance, but in time the rabbinate of Venice was superseded by Salonika, Livorno and Amsterdam.
Venice had competed with Genoa (a close Spanish ally) for trade with the East. They had won out over Genoa but then came into conflict with the Turks, who were much stronger. Some of Venice’s trade seems to have gone to Ragusa (Dubrovnik). The development of global trade decreased Venice’s importance. Anti-Semitic ordinances caused a number of Sephardim to move to Venice.
Venice is a significant city in world and Jewish history. Jews were allowed to live and trade in Venice, but faced discrimination, including being confined to the Ghetto area of the city at night. Venice was home to different Jewish communities including Italian, Ashkenazi, ‘Spanish’ (meaning Western Sephardic) and ‘Levantine’ (meaning Eastern Sephardic). I speculate that Venice was the route by which many Eastern Sephardic families found their way to Western Sephardic communities in the 18th and early 19th Centuries.
Venice was a major Mediterranean trading hub, especially with the Islamic world, and for a time the republic was the dominant naval power in the region. The shift in trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and within the Mediterranean from east to west, along with Livorno welcoming Jewish merchants from 1593 probably contributed to Venice’s decline as a trading centre for Jews. There is evidence of some families moving from Venice to Livorno.
The Italian Plague of 1629–1631 is estimated to have killed a third of the city’s population. Venetian independence came to end with the conquest of the French under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. One of his first acts was to tear down the ghetto’s gates. Between 1814 and 1866 Venice came under Austrian rule until being absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy.
The Venetian town of Rovigo is reported to have had a Jewish community circa 1671.
Genealogy of the Sephardic Jews of Venice
This section is more a signpost for people wanting to research further themselves. There are three principle sources of which I am aware:
- Archives of the Jewish Community
- Archives of the City of Venice
- State Archives of the Serene Republic of Venice
I have not seen an authoritative English-language resource on the Jewish-related archives of Venice. In Italian, the Materia giudaica: Rivista dell’associazione italiana per lo studio del giudaismo is the place to start. http://aisg.cise.unipi.it/AISG_05Materia/AISG_Materia.html
Jewish Archives of Venice
The Italian Family History website page on Jewish Venice (https://www.italian-family-history.com/jewish/_Venezia.html) lists Jewish records for Venice but does not say where to find them! The records they identify are:
Jewish Birth Records of Venice
1706-1791
1791-1815
1816-1849
1850-1871
1871-2000
Jewish Marriages Records of Venice
1815-1871
1841-1882
1882-2000
Jewish Burial Records of Venice
Note: Carla Boccato writes that the Jewish community’s burial registers contains gaps but cover the period 1601 to 1839. The records of the Provveditori alla Sanità (whose responsibilities included issuing burial licences) in the State Archives also contain gaps but cover the period from 1631 to 1765. When put together, these two sources still leave gaps from March 1656 to April 1671 and from March 1794 to July 1795.
1601-1627
1627-1652
1721-1736
1741-1794
1795-1831
1816-1863
1864-1871
1915-2000
Property Registers
Property Register 1713
Property Register 1739
Property Register 1771
Property Register 1810
Maps of 19th Century property
Census / Population Registers
The French conquered Venice in 1797, but the city was then handed to the Austrians. So, I am not sure who conducted the 1797 census. I have seen the 1805 census called the Austrian Population Register of 1805. The French took the city from the Austrians that year and handed control to their puppet state, the Kingdom of Italy. Austria regained control in 1814.
Not sure about the 1797 population, but the others are in the Archives of the City of Venice.
Archives of the Jewish Community of Venice
As discussed above, there were originally several Jewish communities in Venice. At some point the Jewish communities in Venice joined together into a single body. This was known sequentially as:
- Fraterna generale di culto e beneficenza degli israeliti di Venezia
- Comunità israelitica
- Comunità ebraica di Venezia
19th Century and early 20th Century records of the Jewish community of Venice and now held by the Renato Maestro Library. http://renatomaestro.org/en/
This is the index of the Archives of the Jewish Community of Venice. https://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/inventari-pdf/veneto/ArchivioComunitaEbraicaVenezia_Inventario160614.pdf
Three books on the Jewish cemetery:
Riccardo Pacifici. Le iscrizioni dell antico cimitero ebraico a Venezia. 1938.
Aldo Luzzatto. La comunità ebraica di Venezia e il suo antico cimitero.
Carla Boccato. The ancient Jewish cemetery of San Nicolo on the Lido in Venice.
Archives of the City of Venice
General Archives of the City of Venice. https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/archivio-generale
Archival Series of the City of Venice. https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/serie-archivistiche
Cadastral (Land Registry) Records for 1786 and 1802. https://www.comune.venezia.it/content/serie-archivistiche-materiale-precedente-listituzione-comune-i-catastici-1786-e-1802
Populations Registers. https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/content/serie-archivistiche-serie-anagrafiche
The Population Registers include:
- Austrian Register of 1805 (Prima Dominazione austriaca)
- Napoleonic Register of 1811 (Epoca napoleonica)
- Austrian Registers of 1850-1857 (IIIª Dominazione austriaca)
State Archives of the Serene Republic of Venice
General Index of the Venetian State Archives. http://www.archiviodistatovenezia.it/siasve/DaMosto_1.pdf
Notarial Archives. http://www.archiviodistatovenezia.it/siasve/cgi-bin/pagina.pl?Tipo=fondo&Chiave=9439
Index to the Notarial Archives. http://213.136.75.178/siasve/documenti/Notarile,%20Atti_01.08.2018.pdf
Wills. http://www.archiviodistatovenezia.it/siasve/cgi-bin/pagina.pl?Tipo=fondo&Chiave=9345
The Provveditori alla Sanità responsibilities included issuing burial licences. http://www.archiviodistatovenezia.it/siasve/cgi-bin/pagina.pl?Tipo=fondo&Chiave=14406
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