kosher tavern in jewish venice

Since the 12th century, Jews settled in Venice in good numbers, adapting their personal religious prescriptions to the customs and especially to the local resources.

This adaptation gave rise to the cuisine of Venetian Jews, the precepts of which, followed more or less faithfully by the families, now Venetian by customs and traditions no less than by civic and national sentiment, found their strict application, under the direct supervision of the Community’s Chief Rabbi, in the Ristorante Cascer, the pure restaurant, as opposed to the Taref, impure food, of the other trattorias.

Before 1960, three taverns prospered in Venice in which the rules of the Jewish rite were strictly followed: one in San Leonardo with a tavern and inn, run by Ancona family from Ferrara; one in San Marco, in Calle del Ridotto, run by a certain Angeli, and one in Campiello della Regina d’Ungheria, near the Baratteri bridge, run by a Cantoni.

The first two disappeared around 1970, leaving no traces: the Cantoni’s tavern, on the other hand, which bore the sign ‘Alla Regina d’Ungheria’, moved to the nearby Calle delle Pignatte, in larger and more decorous premises.

Cantoni was very popular, and not only among his co-religionists, for the good-naturedness of his character, and for a curious mouse birthmark that adorned his right forearm, which the sleeves of his shirt, which he used to keep rolled up like the tavernkeepers of the good old days, left uncovered. When he was called by the Lord to a better life, he left his well-established tavern to a Finzi, who kept it until the beginning of the 20th century.

But even before the ‘Trattoria alla Regina d’Ungheria’ became a Christian trattoria, another Jewish tavern was opened in 1900 in Sottoportico delle Acque, by Lazzaro Fano, who established his business in a space previously occupied by a very modest tavern, renowned for the perfect way in which the “baccala mantecato” was prepared. Fano did not want to break with tradition and continued to serve his customers superior baccala mantecato, while dedicating himself, with equal enthusiasm, to Jewish cuisine.

Instead, there were three or four taverns in the Ghetto, once run by the Cocchi, the Scissa Tressa, the Navarro, and the Dina on behalf of the Community. 

They were active until the 1940s and on the occasion of night-time religious services in the temples, they opened early in the morning to offer customers large bowls of bigoli in sauce and spaghetti with anchovy. Then there was the tavern at Rampon’s where Jews who loved a good drink would gather in the evenings to play cards.