‘...li giudei debbano abitar unidi...’ THE BIRTH AND EVOLUTION OF THE VENETIAN GHETTO

(1516-1797)

An international conference organized by:

The Medici Archive Project Beit Venezia - The Venice Center for International Jewish Studies,

il Comitato “I 500 anni del Ghetto di Venezia” Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies – Jewish Scepticism

Soprintendenza belle arti e paesaggio per Venezia e laguna.

Sala del Piovego - Palazzo Ducale - Venice

5th & 6th May 2016

Thursday, 5 May 2016 13:00 Registration Opens WELCOME 14:00 Representative of the Office of the Mayor of Venice 14:10 Emanuela Carpani (Soprintendenza belle arti e paesaggio per Venezia

e laguna) 14:20 Paolo Gnignati (Comunità Ebraica, Venezia) 14:30 Giuseppe Veltri (Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies,

Hamburg) INTRODUCTION 14:40 Alessio Assonitis (The Medici Archive Project, Florence) INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 14:55 Piergabriele Mancuso (The Eugene Grant Research Program on

Jewish History and Culture in Early Modern Europe —The Medici Archive Project) - The Ghetto of Venice and the Making of Early Modern Jewry.

PANEL ONE: The Ghetto in its Historical Dimension

Chair: Simon Levis Sullam (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) 15:40 Giacomo Corazzol (Tel Aviv University) - The Prehistory of the Venetian

Ghetto in the Eyes of a Cretan Jew: Venice, 1509 16:05 Piercesare Ioly Zorattini (Università degli Studi di Udine) - Il Ghetto e

il S. Uffizio di Venezia: una storia di lunga durata (secc. XVI-XVIII) 16:30 Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek and Naida Mihal Brandl (University of

Split/University of Zagreb) - Mercanti ebrei fra le due sponde dell'Adriatico nel XVIII secolo

16:55 Coffee Break 17:25 Stefania Silvestri (The John Rylands Library – University of

Manchester) - Jewish Women from Venice: A Portrayal through the Study of their Ketubbot

17:50 Alessandro Guetta (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, Paris) - Italian Citizens of Jewish Faith: The Italian texts of David de Pomi and Leone Modena

18:15 Panel One Closes 18:30 Day One Closes

Friday, 6 May 2016 PANEL TWO: The Architectures of the Venetian Ghetto

Chair: Donatella Calabi (Università Iuav di Venezia) 9:00 Elisa Bastianello (Independent Scholar) - Il Ghetto: aperture urbane e

sociali 9:25 Gianmario Guidarelli (Università degli Studi di Padova) - Le sinagoghe

del Ghetto di Venezia nel contesto della architettura del Rinascimento veneziano

9:50 Alessandra Ferrighi (Università Iuav di Venezia) - Dopo il Ghetto. La nuova contrada Riunione e le trasformazioni nella prima metà dell’Ottocento

10:15 Stefano Zaggia (Università degli Studi di Padova) - Dalle contrade ebraiche ai ghetti nelle città della Repubblica di Venezia (secc. XV-XVI)

10:40 Panel Two Closes 10:45 Coffee Break PANEL THREE: The Venetian Ghetto and its Philosophical Legacy

Chair: Giuseppe Veltri (Director, Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, Hamburg)

11:15 Abraham Melamed (University of Haifa) - When did Judaism Become a

Religion? The Case of Simone Luzzatto 11:40 Anna Lissa (Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies) - Scepticism

and Politics in Simone Luzzatto’s Works 12:05 Evelien Chayes (CNRS – IRHT, Paris) - Christians Studying in the

Venetian Ghetto: Talmud and Scepticism 1630-1640 12:30 Michela Torbidoni (Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies) -

L’esercizio serio-giocoso del rabbino Simone Luzzatto: un dibattito scettico sull’anima

12:55 Panel Three Closes 13:00 Lunch Break PANEL FOUR: Arts and Theatre in the Venetian Ghetto

Chair: Shaul Bassi (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) 14:45 Rafael D. Arnold (Universität Rostock) - Contrasting Sepulchral

Traditions in Venice (Ashkenazic and Sephardic) 15:10 Erith Jaffe-Berg (University of California, Riverside) - The Ghetto and

Performance Making in Venice and Mantua in the Early Modern Period

15:35 Michele Osherow (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) - The Problem of Conversion in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice

16:00 Elizabeth Rich (Independent Scholar) - Moisè da Castellazzo, the Consiglio dei Dieci and Copyright Privileges: How a Jewish artist protected his creation of a picture-Bible in 1521

16:30 Panel Four Closes 16:35 Closing Remarks & Final Discussion 17:00 Drinks Reception 18:00 End of Conference