AVI students explore Italy's Jewish history
- Allied Voices for Israel (AVI)
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
Some highlights from our Common Ground Italy adventure!
Planning Israel trips during war isn’t easy.
Our first trip as Allied Voices for Israel (AVI) took place right after Oct. 7, when we had the radical idea to reroute to Italy — home to history deeply tied to Jerusalem and sites that corroborate Jewish indigeneity to Israel such as the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum.
It was a bold move, but it worked and we inspired a phenomenal group of students. In 2024, we led two successful cohorts to Israel. Students from these cohorts then served as AVI Ambassadors on campuses across Canada.
Fast forward to June 12, 2025: we were 11 days from our next Israel trip with 20 students from 11 campuses—60% of them non-Jewish allies. Then came Israel’s preemptive strike on Iran. It was historic—and filled us with Jewish pride. But it also forced a decision: cancel or reroute?
We chose to reroute—again—to Italy. But this time, we had only eight days to plan what usually takes three months.
Our team, led by our dedicated Director of Campus Affairs Idaliah Snajdman, pulled off the impossible—working nonstop, coordinating logistics, rebooking flights, the sheer balagan of planning this so quickly, and supporting a student stuck in Israel who eventually was able to join us in Italy.
On June 24th, after layovers, lost luggage, and plenty of chaos, our group of Jewish and allied students met near Venice. We made it.
Our Common Ground journey started with a day spent exploring the historical Jewish Quarter in Venice.
The grandfather of a Venetian soldier decided to honour Jews who were deported from their homes during WWII. These memorial plaques scattered throughout the Jewish Quarter in Venice and practically all of Italy memorialize the Jews who lived there, when they were born, and when they were deported and killed.
There are five synagogues located within the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. These synagogues were built by different Jewish communities (Italian, German, Spanish, etc.) who lived in the Jewish Quarter.
The Great German Synagogue (Scuola Grande Tedesca) is the oldest synagogue in Venice, completed in 1528. The exterior contains five big windows, representing the five books of Torah. All of the decor inside the synagogue was made by local Venetian artisans!
Our Common Ground Ambassadors also explored The Spanish Synagogue (Sinagoga Scuola Spagnola), which was completed in 1580 by Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 1490s, and The Levantine Synagogue, completed in 1541. The oldest Sefer Torah they have goes all the way back to 1575!
To read more about our first day in Venice, please click here.
Our second day took us to Verona, the home of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, where our Common Ground Ambassadors learned about the history of the Jewish people in Verona.
We learned that only 1,400 Jews live in Verona today, and marvelled at the Verona Synagogue, which contains a fascinating detail. The Hindu swastik was added to the synagogue before the Holocaust as a symbol of peace, allyship, and good fortune.
This tied neatly into our allyship workshop, which was led by our AVI staff on the second day of our trip.
The Synagogue of Verona is located on a street named after Rita Rosani, who was a Jewish teacher, Italian patriot, and gave her life in 1944 fighting the Nazis through a resistance that sought to protect Jews and other minorities from the Fascist regime.
Our Common Ground Ambassadors also visited the Verona Amphitheatre, and went inside to see the iconic balcony that emblematizes the passionate love affair between Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
In Verona, they learned all about the Christian roots in Verona, and the city's role in the development of Christianity. Many of our Christian students found it particularly intriguing!
Our students also set aside some time on the trip to share their impressions of the sites they've been visiting.
In the video hyperlinked above, Common Ground Ambassadors Arielle and Bisrat share their first reflections from Venice.
Arielle was captivated by the vibrant colours and the unique intersection of Jewish and Venetian identity woven into the city’s history. Bisrat loved exploring the synagogues of the Venetian Ghetto, especially the one with 5 windows representing the 5 books of the Torah.
To watch the video, please click here.
This is just the beginning – stay tuned for more insights from our Common Ground Ambassadors, and the incredible sites they visit as the build brides and coalitions while exploring Jewish history in Italy.
On our next email, you will read more about their time in Rome learning about Jewish indigeneity to Israel.
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