Old Jewish Cemetery on the Lido

In 1386, the Venetian government invited the Jewish community of Treviso to move to Venice, asking them to repair the city's finances, which had collapsed during the long wars with Genoa. As part of the agreement, Venice deeded to the Jewish community a vineyard adjacent to the Benedictine monastery of San Nicoló di Lido for a cemetery. At one time, the cemetery stretched across the Lido Island from the lagoon to the Adriatic, but, beginning in the 17th century, the Venetian government erected fortifications on the Lido that encroached on the holy ground and eventually reduced its size to the present 32,000 square feet. The funeral monuments in the lost area were moved to the remaining part. At one point, an additional meter of fill was added to the front half of the cemetery, and a second layer of graves was made. The cemetery was used for Jewish burials until the late 18th century. The oldest Jewish tombstone uncovered on the Lido dates from 1389. A rich array of styles and inscriptions on the tombstones indicate the ethnic and historical mix of Venetian Jewry. Among the notable Venetians buried there are Leone da Modena, 17th-century rabbi and the author of Historia de Riti Hebraici (History of Jewish Ritual) and Sarah Coppio Sulam, the poetess and intellectual known for her polemical exchange with Genoan poet Ansaldo Ceba. With the passing of time, the overgrowth of foliage and vegetation and its subsequent decay lent a romantic air to the cemetery, one that would inspire poets Byron and Shelley, among others.