The Venetian Ghetto retains all of its synagogues. Northern European and Italian Jews were the first to inhabit the ghetto; then came the Levantine Jews. The last were a fairly wealthy group comprised of both merchants from the Ottoman Empire to the east and Iberian Jews expelled after the 1492 decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. Still later, in 1589, another group, the Sephardic Jews, arrived from Spain.

Four of the five synagogues in Venice were built into buildings that already housed residents or a school for religious study. The first three to be constructed were in residential buildings in the Ghetto Nuovo. They can be a little difficult to find.

The Scuola Italiana, built by Italian Jews, is on the second floor of this building. The little carved crest above the third arched window says that the synagogue was finished by the 'blessed Italian community in 1575.' The five arched windows symbolize the first five books of the Bible. In the Jewish religion, these books are called the Torah, or the Pentateuch. The cupola of the Scuola Italiana is visible between the buildings.

Each of the synagogues was organized and built by a Jewish group of a different origin. The synagogues were called 'scuole', or schools, like their Christian counterparts. Five of them developed in Venice: the Scuola Grande Tedesca (German); Scuola Canton (Jews from Provence, in the south of France); this one, the Scuola Italiana; the Scuola Grande Spagnola (Spanish Jews), and Scuola Levantina (Jews from the Ottoman Empire). The reason that each synagogue is called a 'school' or 'brotherhood' is that it served as more than just a place of worship. It was also a center of educational, cultural, and charitable functions for each national group in the Jewish community. This was comparable to the brotherhood in the Christian community, like the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (Distinguished Brotherhood of St. Roch). The different Jewish groups were called 'nations' or 'tribes'. Since each group came from a different area of Western Europe or the Levant, each had its own religious rites and its own educational and charitable institutions. The diverse groups formed a representative United Board of Jews in the ghetto.

There was also quite a bit of rivalry between the national groups. They shared a common religion, but they had different customs, and were from different economic and social classes. For example, the Italian Jews were the poorest group, and always a minority. Nevertheless, they exerted great influence in the religious and cultural life of the community.