THE OLD MATZOT BAKERY

They plan to make Azime, which they call Mazzòd, that will be enough for them to eat for the eight days of Pesah … in making them they knead flour and water … and immediately put them in the oven to bake. 

Thus Leon Modena in his Historia de’ riti ebraici. Thus there were at least three ovens in the ghetto in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, according to the records: one behind Corte Rodriga, on the left, near the entrance from the portico of Ghetto Vecchio; one near the Corte della Calle Sporca (parallel to the present Calle del Forno); one near the corner of Calle dell’Orto and Strada Maestra (now Calle di Ghetto Vecchio).

From the end of the 19th century, only the bakery still operating today, on the occasion of the Jewish Passover, remained open at Calle del Forno. For many years, at least until the end of the 20th century, the bakery produced unleavened bread and traditional Easter sweets for Venice and many other communities. Today, it is only used by many volunteers for the production of typical Venetian sweets, while the ‘azzime’ are imported either from France or Israel