The
Venetian Ghetto was the area of
Venice in which
Jews were compelled to live under the
Venetian Republic. It is from its name in
Italian ("ghetto"), that the English word "
ghetto" is derived: in the Venetian language it was named "ghèto". The Venetian Ghetto (incidentally, the first Ghetto) was instituted in 1516, though political restrictions on Jewish rights and residences existed before that date.