Venice’s Jewish quarter is the Ghetto in Cannaregio, established in 1516 by decree of Doge Leonardo Loredan and widely regarded as the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. The name “ghetto” is usually linked to the old foundry site that preceded the Jewish settlement.
 
The most striking architectural feature is the unusually tall, narrow housing: because space was limited, buildings were built upward rather than outward, and the synagogues were placed on upper floors above ordinary dwellings. Synagogues are easy to miss from the street because they were designed to look plain externally while being richly decorated inside.
 
Venice is not really a skyscraper city, but it has some of the most meaningful vertical buildings in Europe because each tall structure tells a different social history and thats kind of wonderful.
 
Interesting facts...
The old gates of the Ghetto were opened in 1797 under Napoleon, but the place retains its vibrancy and spiritual identity - proof perhaps that history and culture endures