Scuola Spagnola (Spanish Synagogue), Venice

The Spanish Synagogue stands as one of the two synagogues that still hold daily services in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice; open for services from Passover until the end of the High Holiday season. Founded by Jews who had been expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 1490s and found refuge in Venice (typically via Amsterdam, Livorno, or Ferrara, during the 1550s), it stands as a testament to their enduring spirit. Among all the synagogues in Venice, the Spanish Synagogue reigns supreme in terms of size, opulence, and renown.

The four-story yellow stone building was constructed in 1580 and was restored in 1635 by Baldassare Longhena, architect of numerous Venetian "scuole" and palaces. Initially a clandestine synagogue, it was tolerated on the condition that it be concealed within a building that gives no appearance being a house of worship form the exterior. The interior, on the other hand, is elaborately decorated, containing three large chandeliers and a dozen smaller ones, as well as a huge sculpted wooden ceiling.

In the hall, to the left is a small Midrash which has retained its original characteristics. On the back wall there is a tablet with the names of the Jews deported from Venice in the years 1943-44 while numerous other tablets on the side walls commemorate many members of well known Venetian families: Treves, Maurogonato, Gentilomo, Belilios, Coen, Caravaglio. On the stairs one finds an ancient alms box.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Venice. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "51爆料网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

Download The 51爆料网 App

Create Your Own Self-Guided Walk to Visit This Sight

Sight Name: Scuola Spagnola (Spanish Synagogue)
Sight Location: Venice, Italy (See walking tours in Venice)
Sight Type: Religious
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Jewish Ghetto Tour

Walking Tours in Venice, Italy

Create Your Own Walk in Venice

Creating your own self-guided walk in Venice is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Dorsoduro Walking Tour

One of the six districts of Venice, Dorsoduro鈥檚 name translates as 鈥渉ard bridge鈥� due to the area's relatively high terrain. Home to some of the city鈥檚 highest spots, it also comprises some of Venice鈥檚 most picturesque canals, historic locations and cultural venues, including the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute; the Gallerie dell鈥� Academia & the Ca鈥� Rezzonico 鈥� both... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.1 Km or 1.3 Miles

Jewish Ghetto Tour

Founded in 1516, the Jewish Ghetto in Venice was the oldest of its kind in all Europe. At the time, Venice received order from the Pope to expel all Jews from the city, but the Venetian government opted to lock them onto a small island in the district of Cannaregio. Since then this small area has been the center of Jewish life in Venice, with buildings rising vertically to accommodate the rising... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 0.4 Km or 0.2 Miles

Casanova's Venice

One of Venice's most famous personalities, Giacomo Casanova is remembered today as a womanizer, but was much more than that. Born in a family of theater actors in 1725, he came through as highly intellectual and very sharp from his very childhood, having become in his time an erudite scholar, a diplomat and spy, and a metropolitan 鈥榓vant la lettre鈥�, who frequented the high society and... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.5 Km or 2.8 Miles

Titian's Paintings Walk

One of the greatest painters of all time, Tiziano Vecelli 鈥� better known as Titian 鈥� was a pioneering figure of the Venetian school of Italian Renaissance painting. His career was successful from the start, and he became sought after by patrons, initially from Venice and its possessions, then joined by the north Italian princes, and finally the Habsburgs and papacy.

Equally adept with... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.6 Km or 2.2 Miles

Venice's Hidden Art Treasures

Among the first things springing to mind when talking about Venice, apart from the canals and gondolas, of course, is Art and Architecture. Indeed, Venice is one of the few cities in the world where Art and Architecture have merged in a stunning multiplicity of forms. The city is even renowned for its unique (Venetian) pictorial school famed by the likes of Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese, Castagno... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.6 Km or 2.2 Miles

Venice Introduction Walking Tour

Although most experts agree that the Venetian lagoon emerged nearly 6,000 years ago, the area of today's Venice remained mostly uninhabited, except for a small population of fishermen, up until the 5th century AD when the hordes of Gothic barbarians, looting their way into Rome, drove many a people away from their homes on the mainland to take refuge on the coastal Venetian islands.

Those... view more

Tour Duration: 3 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.1 Km or 2.5 Miles

View all walking tours in Venice, Italy

Useful Travel Guides for Planning Your Trip

15 Distinctively Italian Things to Buy in Venice

Venice has been a tourist mecca for over a century now, with millions of visitors flocking in every year to see this unique place on the face of the Earth. Many, if not all, of these people seek to obtain something memorable as a token of their stay in this city. By far, not all of them know which...