"Two foreign Jewish tourists were surrounded and beaten by a group of 10 attackers," Venice's deputy mayor in charge of tourism, Simone Venturini, wrote on social media.
It occurred a few days ago on the Strada Nova, a thoroughfare near the Rialto Bridge, he said, calling it a "shameful anti-Semitic attack".
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche wrote on X that the attack had been committed by "a dozen North Africans shouting 'Free Palestine'".
Italian authorities had not officially confirmed the identity of the perpetrators, nor the circumstances of the attack, the latest in a series of attacks or threats against Jews in recent months.
However, Venice's chief of police, Gaetano Bonaccorso, told the Rai state broadcaster that three people were arrested following the attack.
One of them was deported to their country of origin and another was placed in a migrant detention centre, he said.
In a separate statement, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called the victims "two American citizens of Jewish faith," denouncing the attack as "unacceptable".
"Venice is and must remain an open, welcoming and safe city," he wrote.
Italy's Ansa news agency said the attack occurred shortly after midnight on Monday.
The US embassy in Rome did not confirm the attack nor the identity of the victims when questioned by AFP.
Antisemitic attacks have risen sharply in European countries, fuelled in part by Israel's conflict with Hamas since the Palestinian group's October 7 attack.
In Italy, the number of antisemitic acts doubled in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the CDEC Jewish cultural institute.
A similar event occurred in August, according to local news, in which an American Jewish couple was attacked by a group of three men near the Rialto Bridge.
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