Giudecca today is part of the "sestiere of Dorsoduro".

It used to be called Spinalonga on account of its characteristic elongated form. The name seems to derive from the term zudegà: dissident aristocrats who, in the early 9th Century, were exiled to the island with their families, having been given grants of land there. In the Middle Ages Jewish settlements appeared, prior to the building of the ghetto.

During the Venetian Republic, Giudecca was seen as a residential area for patrician families, though they later started to build villas along the Riviera del Brenta (now protected by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites). With time, Giudecca turned into a general suburb and crafts workshops and industrial factories began to appear here.

The most important attractions on the island are the impressive Chiesa del Redentore, the Chiesa delle Zitelle by Palladio, the Mulino Stucky (1895), now restored and turned into a hotel, and the long wide quay offering one of the best views of Venice.

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