The Ancient Jewish Cemetery on the Lido of Venice

This volume brings together some reflections on the history and memory of Jews in Venice, focusing on the Ghetto and the Jewish cemetery on the Lido of Venice, emphasizing the importance of the tombs as an enduring testimony to human life and memory.

The Ghetto, in the 16th and 17th centuries, represented a vibrant center of life and history; in the 18th and 19th centuries it lost its splendor, while the 20th century is marked by the devastation of the Shoah. However, today the Ghetto is alive again, and Judaism is an integral part of city life.

The Lido Cemetery, ancient and modern, tells the story of Venetian Jewry in a tangible way by continuing its dialogue with the Community of Venice and with the literature of all times through the words of its illustrious visitors starting with Shelley and Byron.

The ancient Jewish cemetery on the Lido thus becomes an ideal literary setting for scenes of love and death, for authors who represent well the romantic spirit up to the words of Henry James, Benjamin Disraeli and Primo Levi.

A rich iconographic apparatus completes the volume, which thus offers itself as a parenthesis of insight and discovery for the attentive tourist or scholar passionate about these themes.