It's not the first time that I heard this word in Italy.  But Venice is where the word was first spoken.

Now, I'm no historian and, in my opinion, what's written in history books may not always be that accurate.  But here's what I've gathered:

Although segregation of Jews existed in European communities earlier (for example, the name of an island that's separated from Venice by lagoon is Giudecca), Venetian ghetto was the first using such term in Europe.  In 1516, Jews were restricted to living in the Canneregio district of Venice, an abandoned site of a 14th-century foundry that used to produce cannons.  

It was enclosed by two guarded gates and no one was allowed to leave from sunset to dawn.  Restrictions on daily Jewish life continued for close to 300 years, until Napoleon Bonaparte conquered the Venetian Republic in 1797.  He removed the gates and gave all residents the freedom to live where they chose.

As history sees it, it was not the end of Jewish oppression...

Remember the question that I brought up in another post about Pitigliano?  Hint: you could kind of guess the answer now.