Sestiere Cannaregio, il Ghetto Ebraico e le Fondamente Nove
El sestiere de Cannaregio contiene el ghetto judío más antiguo del mundo, establecido en 1516 cuando el Senado veneciano confinó a la población judía de la ciudad en una isla amurallada.
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Venice Jewish Ghetto — The World's First Ghetto (1516)
The Venetian Ghetto (Gheto Novo, the island in Cannaregio where the Venetian Republic confined its Jewish population from 1516 — the world's first use of 'ghetto' as a forced residential zone, the word from 'geto' or foundry, the former foundry on the island) is the origin of the word and concept used globally for centuries — the five synagogues (the Scola Tedesca, 1528, the oldest; the Scola Levantina, 1541; the Scola Spagnola, 1580; the Scola Canton, 1531; and the Scola Italiana, 1575, all accessible via the Jewish Museum tour, ¥12 adults) are stacked above the ground-floor commercial buildings (because no expansion was possible outward, the ghetto buildings are the tallest in Venice at 7–9 stories) and represent the most complete collection of Renaissance synagogues in the world.
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Fondamente Nove — The Northern Lagoon Departure Point
Fondamente Nove (the northern quayside of Venice, the vaporetto stop for all boats to the northern lagoon islands — Murano, Burano, Torcello, San Michele, and the cemetery island) is the most useful of Venice's secondary vaporetto nodes — the route 12 (Fondamente Nove to Murano to Burano to Torcello and back, the standard northern lagoon daytrip circuit, ¥9.50 per one-way vaporetto trip, or included in the 24/48/72 hour vaporetto pass) operates every 30 minutes; the view from Fondamente Nove across the northern lagoon (the open water, the distant mountains of the Dolomites visible on clear winter days to the north) is among the most spacious in Venice — the contrast to the narrow calli (alleys) is striking.
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Murano — The Island of Glass Since 1291
Murano (the island 1.5km north of Venice, vaporetto routes 3, 12, DM from Fondamente Nove or 4.1/4.2 from San Zaccaria, 15 minutes) has housed Venice's glassblowing industry since 1291 when the Venetian Republic moved the furnaces from the city to the island to reduce fire risk — the Museo del Vetro (Fondamenta Giustinian 8, ¥10 adults, daily 10am–5pm) traces 2,000 years of Murano glass history; the glassblowing demonstrations (free at the furnaces/fornaci operating along Fondamenta dei Vetrai) and the showrooms (the full spectrum from mass-produced tourist glass to the Barovier & Toso showroom displaying antique pieces worth €50,000+) line the island's main waterfront.
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Burano — The Lace Island and Coloured Houses
Burano (the island 7km north of Venice, vaporetto route 12 from Fondamente Nove, 45 minutes, or direct from Murano, 30 minutes) is the fishing community famous for two things: the brightly painted houses (the tradition of fishermen painting their houses in distinctive colours to identify them from the water) and bobbin lace (the Burano punto in aria needlelace tradition, established 16th century, the finest examples in the Museo del Merletto, Piazza Galuppi 187, ¥5 adults, Tuesday–Sunday 10am–5pm, the only functioning lace school in Italy still teaching traditional Burano technique) — the walk from the vaporetto landing across Via Baldassare Galuppi to the far end of the island (20 minutes) passes the full spectrum of house colours and the working boatyard.
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Torcello — The Island Where Venice Started
Torcello (the island at the northern edge of the Venice lagoon, 9km from Venice, vaporetto route 12 from Fondamente Nove, 1 hour, population 14 — the lowest inhabited-island population in the Italian state) was the first major settled island in the Venice Lagoon (5th–6th century AD) and Venice's predecessor in population and importance — the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta (the oldest building in the Venice lagoon, 639 AD, with the 12th-century Byzantine mosaics in the apse — the Madonna in Deesis, the most complete Early Medieval mosaic program surviving in northern Italy, ¥5 adults) and the campanile (the bell tower, 1km height, ¥3, the panoramic viewpoint over the lagoon) are the 2 buildings of the entire island worth visiting.
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Strada Nova — Cannaregio's Unexpected Boulevard
Strada Nova (the only wide street in Venice, 1871, created by filling in a canal to connect the railway station to the Rialto area, Cannaregio) is the primary commercial street serving Venice's resident population rather than its tourist infrastructure — the market (the Mercato di Cannaregio, the daily produce market on the fondamenta alongside the canal, Tuesday and Friday mornings, the best place to buy Venetian-grown Radicchio di Treviso and Sant'Erasmo artichokes), the Ai Promessi Sposi (the Venetian bacaro/wine bar at Calle dell'Oca 4367, the best cichetti counter in Cannaregio), and the Ca' d'Oro (the 15th-century Gothic palace on the Grand Canal, vaporetto stop Ca' d'Oro, the finest Gothic facade on the Grand Canal, accessible from within via the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, ¥3 adults) are the corridor's highlights.