The Schola Tedesca (German Synagogue) has been the spiritual home of Venice’s Ashkenazi community since 1528. By 16th-century Venetian law, only the German Jewish community could lend money, and the success of this trade shows in the handsome decor. The baroque pulpit and carved benches downstairs are topped by a gilded, elliptical women’s gallery, modelled after a Venetian opera balcony.
