This full day Venice tour includes a Grand Canal cruise and a highlights of Venice walking tour, then turns to Venice's Jewish history in the district of Cannaregio, including the Jewish Ghetto and its synagogues.
Your licensed guide meets you at the Venice cruise terminal and leads you to your private water taxi waiting nearby. You cruise the full length of the Grand Canal, past palaces built from the 12th to 17th centuries, before arriving at St. Mark's Square, where you visit the interior of St. Mark's Basilica, built in 829 AD, and the Doge's Palace, the seat of Venetian government since 1173, including the Bridge of Sighs.
After free time for lunch, you tour the Cannaregio district and its Jewish Ghetto. Jewish settlement in the Veneto region traces back to the 4th century, and the community in Venice grew significantly after the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain sent refugees across Portugal, Turkey, and Italy. In 1516, the Venetian Senate, known as the Council of Pregadi, ordered that Jewish residents live in a designated area called Ghetto Novo, an old foundry district. The word ghetto, now used worldwide, originated with this decree.
Through the 1500s, distinct synagogues were built for each of the community's national groups, creating a unique cultural mix within a few city blocks. As the population grew, buildings in the district were raised to as many as seven stories, unusually tall for Venice even today. Over time the community expanded across three connected areas, the Ghetto Novo, the Old Ghetto, and the Ghetto Novissimo.
Your walking tour takes you through the Ghetto's streets and canals, past its historic buildings, to see the Schola Canton, the Schola Italiana, built in 1575, the Schola Levantina, built in 1538, and the German Schola, founded by German Jewish immigrants. A Jewish museum guide then joins you for a visit inside one of the synagogues.
Review Location- Venice 
