The synagogues
Schola Canton
The Schola Canton is next door to the Schola Tedesca. Various theses have been forwarded concerning the name of this synagogue but two are the most popular: the first wants that the name of the synagogue derived from the surname of the family that built it (Canton family), the other wants the name from the location in a corner of the Campo di Ghetto (in Venetian, corner is Canton). Being immersed in the urban web, the synagogue is recognizable from the outside only by the wooden cupola that appears from the roofs. Like in the other synagogues, also here the bimà and the aron are on the short sides of the hall that, rectangular in its form, has both benches and entrance on the longest sides. The floor is made by Venetian floor and in the middle of it there is a circular ornament. The women's gallery is above the doorway and runs along a long side of the synagogue; the ceiling is decorated by gilded frames.
Schola Italiana
On the Ghetto square, but more to the right than the Schola Tedesca and Canton, we can find the Schola Italiana, built in 1575 and famous because it was the place where Leon da Modena used to keep his lessons. You can recognise it from outside because it has five big wooden windows and a umbrella shape wooden dome that has been recently rebuilt because a fire burnt it. Unlike the other four synagogues that have their own entrance, the entrance to the synagogue is in common with other private apartments that are below the Schola. Also in the Schola Italiana, the bimà and the aron are on the short sides of the hall that, rectangular in its form, has both benches and entrance on the longest sides: the entrance of the synagogue is in the middle of one of the long sides. The women's gallery is above the doorway and has been built in 1700; the ceiling is decorated by rectangular and circular frames.
Schola Levantina
The synagogue, first built in 1538, but restored many times over the years, is in the Campiello delle Schole in the Old Ghetto. Between all the artists who worked on it, it is worth to mention Baldassare Longhena with his disciples who made the wooden bimà and her decorations. Outside, you can notice a series of big windows on the long side and the bima that leans out on the short side. Inside, the entrance has rectangular shape: on the right side there is a little room to study and pray, the Midrash Luzzatto, on the left side there are the stairs to the main hall and to the women's gallery. In the short side of the hall there is the wooden aron and opposite to it there is the bimà, raised from the hall. The ceiling has wooden late baroquean decorations, probably made by Andrea Brustolon who worked in the synagogue towards the end of the 1600s.
Schola Spagnola
This synagogue, that is the biggest between all the venetian Schole, was built around the second half of 16th century, but it has been rebuilt once in 1635 by Baldassare Longhena and once towards the end of 1800s. Outside, coming from the Ghetto square, you cannot miss the big wooden main door on top on which there are big windows with colored glass plugs. On top of the rectangular hall there is a wooden women's gallery that looks like the one in the Schola Tedesca. The bimà and the aron are on the short sides of the hall that has both benches and entrance on the longest sides. The floor is made by black and white marble tiles and the ceiling is decorated.
Schola Tedesca
Schole Tedesca is in the Ghetto square, opposite to the Israeli old age home. Outside, the synagogue is recognizable only by the five big windows. The synagogue has a trapezium shape and on the parallel sides there are aron and bimà, opposite one another. Bimà is on the same level of the public and is not raised like in the other 4 venetian synagogues. The benches are on the other 2 sides of the Schola and on top of them there is the women's gallery that, with its elliptical shape, runs along the synagogue and is similar to the one in the Schola Spagnola.