The Sinking City of Islands

By Aylah Dhruv, FFE student

Every year freshmen take a class called First Year Seminar. This year the class is centered around ideas of travel and place. We are exploring pilgrimages and thinking about how our own journeys from home to Florence have impacted us, and how it is similar to other historical pilgrimages. We watched the movie The Way which detailed the experience of a man walking the Camino de Santiago, a very popular pilgrimage, and explored how it related to our journey through college. This past weekend, the class took a trip up to Venice to learn about the journeys of many Jewish people from all over Europe to Venice, looking for sanctuary.

The most unforgettable things about Venice were the beautiful canals and the methods of transportation including water taxis, gondolas, and other types of boats. This means there are absolutely no cars in Venice, which is a nice change of pace from the hectic atmosphere of Florence.

Surrounded by water and gondolas, we spent two days exploring the city of islands, trying new foods such as couscous with roasted vegetables and falafel, and thinking about the significance of historical landmarks.

We arrived in the evening on Friday and checked into our hotel which was situated in the center of Cannaregio in a historical Jewish square called Campo di Ghetto Nuovo. On Saturday students took a guided walking tour that took us all over the islands of Venice and learned about the history of the city along with what day today life is like for many locals. We saw the Bridge of Sighs, the Church of Santa Maria dei Mariacoli, and learned about the history behind them.

The Bridge of Sighs connects a prison to a palace and was known for being the last place prisoners walked before they entered the prison likely for the rest of their life. Family members of prisoners would stand below and watch as their journeys ended at the end of the bridge. We also saw the Basilica di San Marco and then walked to a restaurant where we had a traditional Venetian meal.

On Sunday students went on another tour that centered around the history of the Jewish Ghetto. The tour guide explained that the word ghetto was first used in the Venice in reference to the area where we were staying, which is where all Venetian Jews were moved to starting from 1516, and is not considered a disrespectful term as it might be in the US. 

Students observed the architecture of the neighborhood and learned how the buildings were constructed abnormally tall and with lower ceilings in order to accommodate the  largest number of people possible. A few of the apartment buildings had synagogues built into them in order to condense space. Students took a tour of one of the synagogues and learned more about Jewish  religion and practices. 

We then ate lunch at a Jewish restaurant and enjoyed foods like potato latkes, chicken shawarma, hummus,falafel and more. Students were given free time in the afternoon and evenings to explore the city and take a closer look at more historical landmarks. Some students took advantage of the gondola rides, others took a look at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and everyone enjoyed good food and time to get to know a new city.

48 hours was just enough time to get a taste, and many students are hoping to return!