Within the Walls and Beyond. Three and a Half Centuries of Italian History

On March 29, 1516, the Senate of the Republic of Venice established the first ghetto. Over the years, other cities, each with its specificities, followed Venice’s example: Dubrovnik established its ghetto in 1546 (the Balkans were, and traditionally had been, an area of strong Venetian influence), followed by the State of the Church in 1555. Gradually, from then on, all northern and central Italian states – from the largest to the smallest – that had not yet expelled Jews during the sixteenth century established their ghetto. The last ghetto was – one might say tardily – installed in 1782 in Correggio in the region of Emilia and specifically intended for poor Jews. The Jacobine surge, followed by Restoration and the Risorgimento movement, put an end to the season of segregation, and in 1870, in Rome, the walls of the last ghetto and of the Papal State were taken down. Three hundred and fifty-four years had gone by since the Venetian deliberation: a very long time that inevitably left a deep mark in Italian history. To understand why, we need to look back to the crucial events that were part of this story by putting into focus the happenings of around 1516 when ghettos were first established as well as those that took place during the following cen- turies, all the way to emancipation.