Harry Freedman and David Abulafia on the remarkable interfaith revival experienced in the city that gave the world the word “ghetto”.

There is nowhere in the world like Venice. With a history as remarkable as its beauty, millions explore the canals, palazzi – and its greatest shame.

With the city corner where its Jews were exiled, Venice gave the world the word ghetto. But when it came to culture the ghetto walls were porous, as European Jews and Christians entered modernity together.

Festival favourite Harry Freedman returns with the remarkable story from the ghetto’s creation in 1516 to the city’s capture by Napoleon in 1798. And no history of Venice and its Jews can avoid Shylock. Would real-life contemporaries have recognised him, devoid of the interfaith revival they experienced? And what did Shakespeare really think of him? In conversation with acclaimed historian David Abulafia.

Buy a copy of Shylock’s Venice by Harry Freedman.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval. 

About the speakers:

Harry Freedman is Britain’s leading author of popular works of Jewish culture and history. His publications include The Talmud: A Biography, Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul, The Murderous History of Bible Translations, Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius and Britain’s Jews. He has a PhD on an Aramaic translation of the Bible from University of London.

David Abulafia is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge. His previous books include Frederick II, The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms and The Great Sea, which has been translated into a dozen languages. He is a member of the Academia Europaea, and in 2003 was made Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana in recognition of his work on Italian and Mediterranean history. He won the 2020 Wolfson History Prize for The Boundless Sea.