In 1386 the Venetian Republic granted its Jewish community land for a cemetery at San Nicolò on the Lido, the thin strip of land separating the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. The cemetery was gradually enlarged and eventually enclosed, for both aesthetic and protective reasons, by a tall hedge. (...)
In 1386 the Venetian Republic granted its Jewish community land for a cemetery at San Nicolò on the Lido, the thin strip of land separating the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. The cemetery was gradually enlarged and eventually enclosed, for both aesthetic and protective reasons, by a tall hedge. The community within the Ghetto Nuovo consisted of immigrants and refugees from a wide geographic area. After 1492 and the expulsion of the Jewish community from Spain, many Jewish families from the Iberian peninsula arrived in Venice. As a result, there are a variety of tombstone engravings, with inscriptions in Hebrew, Spanish and Portuguese, often denoting country of origin; stone-carved coats of arms or family emblems, like the jug and basin or blessing hands (the symbol of the Levis and Coens, respectively) also indicate genealogical provenance. Similarly, stylistic differences in the gravestones’ architecture reflect their dates of construction, earlier markers tending to be less elaborate and later ones, like the sarcophagi favored in the 18th century, being more ornately decorated.
