The Jewish history of the city dates back to the 13th century. The Jewish Community lived a relatively peaceful life, with most people specialising in trading and money lending. The transition of the city to the Republic of Venice in 1405, brought in a period of progressively worsened living conditions. Nevertheless, Jews were still allowed […]
The Jewish community of Pisa is most probably the oldest in Tuscany, and one of the oldest in Italy, having settled down in the city in the year 850 AD. Interesting is the description given in the XIII century of the city and its local Jewish population by the famous Spanish Jewish explorer and geographer […]
The small hamlet of Pitigliano is also known as “the small Jerusalem”, a clear indication of the fact that for many centuries the Jewish population was an integrated and welcomed part of the village and welcomed by the local population. The walls surrounding Pitigliano are of Etruscan origin and have been expanded and strengthened in […]
Model of the Renaissance “ideal city”, called the “Small Athens” of the Po valley, it is actually a “Small Rome” since it was conceived by its creator, the Prince and patron Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, on the model of the ancient Roman cities. Vespasiano, as Viceroy of Navarra in Spain, had already planned the city of […]
Turin has the third largest Jewish community in Italy after Rome and Milan. It is the capital city of the northwestern region of Piedmont, the one with the highest number of Jewish heritage sites in Italy nowadays all administratively dependent from the Turin community. Turin was also the seat of the Italian Savoia royal family. […]
The city of Trieste, practically at the border with Slovenia, due to its geographical position, has always been and still is a melting pot of different cultures: Italian, Austro-Hungarian mittle European, and Slavic. All of these cultures have always been well represented in the local Jewish community. The first Jews who settled here arrived in […]
This iconic and wonderful city includes within its boundaries one of the largest ghettos ever built which can be defined almost as a city within the city. The ghetto is part of one of the Venetian districts called “Sestiere di Cannaregio” – “Sestiere” from the Italian word “sesto” meaning one sixth – in which many […]
Vercelli is one of Piedmont’s nine provinces, the region of origin of the Italian Royal house of the Savoia. The earliest written traces of a Jewish presence in Vercelli date back to 1466. They were engaged in jobs usually allowed to Jews at that time, including money lending following a license provided by the Savoia […]
There are sources mentioning the presence of Jews in the city of Verona as back as the VI century AD. Though possible, the first certain sources show that by the XIII century the number of Jews residing in Verona was quite sizeable. At that time a Rabbinical Court was active and two famous Rabbis both […]
Premio Turismo responsabile Italiano 2011