The Giudecca is one of the island S of the lagoon of Venice, largest, immediately in the south of the central islands, from which it is separated by the channel from Giudecca. The island of San Giorgio Maggiore is located at broad of its extremity Is.

The island was known at the origin under the name of Spina Lunga (“Long Edge”, of spina , fish-bone) because of its curved and lengthened form. The place received later its current name, according to some, by the Jewish community which would have settled there, but this explanation is not convincing because the old Jewish ghetto was located in the district (“sestiere”) of Cannaregio. It is more probable than the denomination of Giudecca drift of the word giudicare (“to judge”; giudizio , “judgment”), by reference to the use of the island like place of exile for the dissenting aristocrats at the beginning of the 9th century. The island became then, at the golden age of the République, an escape and vacation resort, made up of palates surrounded by large parks.

The magnificence of this period is in particular attested by the imposing church of the Redentore (“redeemer”), designed by Andrea Palladio between 1577 and 1592 to mark the end of terrible the epidemic of Peste which struck the city in 1576 and decimated a third of its inhabitants. Every year, the Doge and his entourage visited the church while crossing the channel on a bridge of boats, starting from the quay of the Zatterre in the sestiere of the Dorsoduro. This festival of the Redeemer always takes place, in the third week of July.

The place became a zone of Industrie at the beginning of the 20th century including/understanding of the shipyards and the factories, then a movie studio. The decline of Giudecca started after the Second world war with the progressive closing of the industrial sector. During many years, Giudecca will be a degraded and badly famed place, before a series of rehabilitations makes a modern residential zone again of it, quiet and appreciated. It is famous for its length Quai in the North, which forms a very pretty walk and offers a splendid sight on Venice.

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