Levantine Scola is a synagogue in Venice, Italy.
One of the two Venetian Ghetto synagogues still used for services (Spanish in winter, Levantine in summer); also part of the Jewish Museum of Venice tour.
To access on Shabbat and Yom Tov, send your ID to the security.
Among the wealthy Jewish merchants who built the Levantine synagogue in the Old Ghetto were many marranos whose ambiguous religious past aroused the suspicion of Venice’s holy inquisition.
In the 17th century, Longhena restored this synagogue.
The rich red and gold interior of the Levantine Synagogue is particularly beautiful. Note the intricately carved wooden bimah, or pulpit, and the carved wooden decorations on the ceiling.
Not like the other Synagogues, this one, is built on the ground, rather than in cramped top floor apartments.