Diane Von Furstenberg’s $12M Push To Restore Venice Ghetto

Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen November 20, 2014

Getty Images

The world’s oldest ghetto is about to get a makeover.

Jewish-German designer Diane von Furstenberg is launching a $12 million initiative to restore the 500-year-old Venice Ghetto, i24 News reports. Von Furstenberg is spearheading the project, which would include rebuilding the neighborhood’s various synagogues, with real estate investor Joseph Sitt and other philanthropists contributing.

The ghetto was created in 1516 by the Doges of Venice as an alternative to expelling Jews from the city entirely. When the renovations are completed (reportedly in 2016, just in time for the 500th anniversary), the ghetto will become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“As much as this renovation is about preserving the past and the rich history of the Venetian and Jewish communities, today is about the future,” Von Furstenberg stated. “All of us are responsible for making sure that future generations – 500 years from today – have access to these stories of human culture and progress.”

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO