The Schwinger model is often used as a testbed for conceptual and numerical approaches in lattice field theory. Still, some of its rich physical properties in anisotropic volumes have not yet been
explored. For the multi-flavor finite temperature Schwinger model there is an approximate solution by Hosotani et al. based on bosonization. We perform lattice simulations and check the validity of this approximation in the case of two flavors. Next we exchange the rôle of the coordinates to enter the $\delta$-regime, and measure the dependence of the residual “pion” mass on the spatial size, at zero temperature. Our results show that universal features, which were derived by Leutwyler, Hasenfratz and Niedermayer referring to quasi-spontaneous symmetry breaking in $d > 2$, extend even to $d = 2$. This enables the computation of the Schwinger model counterpart of the pion decay constant $F_\pi$. It is consistent with an earlier determination by Harada et al. who considered the divergence of the axial current in a light-cone formulation, and with analytical results that we conjecture from 2d versions of the Witten–Veneziano formula and the Gell-Mann–Oakes–Renner relation, which suggest $F_\pi = 1/\sqrt{2\pi}$.