The Ca’ d’Oro is a large art museum on the Grand Canal one stop north via Vaporetto No. 1 from the Rialto bridge. You get off at the Ca’ d’Oro stop and walk part way down the alley, er, street to the entrance.

Ca' d'Oro Ticket Front

Ca' d'Oro Ticket Back

One of the famous pieces inside the museum is a painting of San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian) being martyred, painted by Andrea Mantegna.

San Sebastiano by Andrea Mantegna

This is a famous work because it depicts the agony of the saint. The painting is large (over four feet tall) and very slender, which adds to its appeal.

Venezia gave us the word ghetto, as it means foundry in Venetian. The Venetian Ghetto is one of the oldest continuos Jewish settlements in Europe. We took the tour of the synagogues (there are five in total) – the tour is the only real way to see them. On the face of one of the synagogues was a tablet of the founders. We found the rules of the Ghetto – these are on a stone table embedded in the wall inside the entrance to the Azkenazy side (Nuovo Ghetto).

The rules of the Nuovo Ghetto

The founders of a synagogue

A second ghetto, next to the first, was created later during the Inquisition to house Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal. We walked back to the Museo Ebraico, the Ghetto museum. Along the way, we stopped at a fantastic shop for Judaica; the owner and his spouse run the shop, and its filled with metal pieces he has made – I bought a sterling silver yud, the pointer used when reading from the Torah. I bought a history of the Ghetto, The Ghetto in the Lagoon, which I’m still reading and that I recommend highly.

Arte Ebaica Business Card

Museo Ebraico Ticket

We had lunch at Gam Gam, a kosher ristorante right on a canal on the way out of the Ghetto; the food was really good and we met the owner, a gregarious Chassid. The food was great; I had meat and hommus, and the meat was very flavorful and spiced heavily, and Aviva had a salmon pasta.

We walked over to Chiese San Maria Glorioso Frari.

Chiese San Maria Glorioso Frari Ticket

It you go to Venezia, you MUST go to the Scuolo Grande San Rocco!

Scuola Grande San Rocco Ticket

This school is the definition of opulence; Tintoretto won a competition to paint the inside of the building, and it is simply unbelievable, as you can see from this picture.

A view from inside the Scuolo Grande San Rocco