Il cortile del mondo

All the world ghettos derive their name from the Ghetto of Venice, which after its establishment in 1561 became a place of segregation but also vibrant Jewish cultural and intercultural center. After its gates were demolished in 1797 this small area was forgotten by the writers forging the new literary myth of Venice. Half a millennium after the foundation of the Ghetto, eighteen writers, women and men from four continents and from diverse ethnicities, languages, religions, were invited to visit the Ghetto and reimagine it their short stories and essays for the new millennium. This anthology presents their writings, with an introduction by the editor and two critical essays by Sara Civai and Lucio De Capitani, examining respectively the representation of the Ghetto in Italian and international literatures.