Cannaregio is a lovely quiet residential area of Venice, less crowded than the main tourist sights but full of interesting architecture and history. A pleasant stroll here will reveal that Venice has much more to offer than St Mark’s Square.
We will walk by the beautiful church of Madonna Dell’Orto (know as Tintoretto’s church), we will see the Campo dei Mori and the house of the Arab merchants, whose stories will suprise you, we will meet lots of local people still using the traditional dialect to talk to each other, old ladies out for groceries, children playing in the streets and students running to their lessons.
Also, in the heart of this “sestiere” was created by the Serenissima in 1516 the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. All the Jewish people in Venice were forced to leave their homes wherever in the city and move to this area, where they could practice very few activities. The ghetto was connected to the rest of the city by bridges with gates, which were closed at sunset. You will learn how they used to live, pray and work. Their life was totally different from any other Jew at that time, and it went on like this up until 1797, when the ghetto gates were demolished by Napoleonic army.