Shylock’s Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice’s Jews and the Ghetto

HARRY FREEDMAN

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A crucial observation regarding the Venetian economy is made by a character in The Merchant of Venice who tells us that “the trade and profit of the city consisteth of all nations”. A staunchly Catholic society which nevertheless sheltered heretic Protestants and allowed Greek refugees to raise their own Orthodox Church, a bulwark of Christendom most of whose trade was carried on with Muslims, Venice was also, for at least five centuries, a place called home for flourishing Jewish communities arriving from mainland Italy, northern Europe, Portugal and Spain.