Synagogue
A Jewish presence in Pitigliano has been attested since the first half of the 15th century, but a real community was formed only after the mid-16th century, especially starting from the persecutions in the Papal States during the pontificate of Paul IV and Pius V and in Tuscany by the Medici, “forced” to please the pope in exchange for the grand ducal title. The Orsini, lords of Pitigliano, generously welcomed the refugees, allowing them to open a “Bank of Loan” and to set up craft and commercial activities. In fact, according to an inscription placed inside, the construction of the Synagogue dates back to 1598, on the initiative of Yehudah ben Shabbetay (Lion of Saturday weaver), perhaps above a previous small place of worship.
In 1608, with the passage of the county of Pitigliano to the Medici, for the first time the Jews were forced to live in a well-defined area of the town, the ghetto, they could only carry out some activities and had the obligation to wear a sign that distinguishes: a red hat for men and a red sleeve for women. It seems that in this period it was customary for the bishop of Sovana-Pitigliano to go to the Synagogue during his pastoral visits where he received the elders of the community, had them show him the Bible and received assurances that they did not keep the Talmud or other prohibited books; on the occasion of such visits the community had to pay a tribute. In 1625, among the numerous prohibitions aimed at preventing the familiarization between the Jewish and Christian communities, there was also the prohibition for Christians to enter the Synagogue. According to an oral tradition, the Temple of Pitigliano also received part of the furnishings (aronot, silverware and lamps) of that of Castro, after the destruction of the city in 1649.
With the passage to the Lorraines, conditions improved and the community flourished again. In 1756 the women’s gallery was built in the synagogue, but the following year the roof collapsed, fortunately without causing any victims; the event was celebrated with a poetic composition and gave rise to a thanksgiving rite. In 1773 Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo visited the temple, an event celebrated by an inscription inside. In the mid-1800s, the Jewish community reached its maximum expansion, with over 400 people, in a town of 2,200 inhabitants: this is the moment in which Pitigliano earned the nickname of “Little Jerusalem”. The sacred building was again visited by the Grand Dukes Ferdinand III (1823) and Leopold II (1829); in 1834 the Parokhet was woven, the tapestry intended to cover the cabinet that preserved the scrolls of the law (Aròn), today exhibited in the Jewish museum of New
York; in 1835 the internal decoration was renewed, with stuccoes and gold finishes.
After the unification of Italy the demographic decline of the community began: an ever-increasing number of Jews left Pitigliano to move to larger cities, to the point that between the 1920s and 1930s there were only 70 individuals, so much so that in 1931 the community was merged with that of Livorno, finally receiving the final blow with the racial laws of 1938. In 1940, following the injunction to the rabbi of Pitigliano to leave the city, the Temple was closed and in 1944 it suffered serious injuries following the Allied bombings of Pitigliano to hinder the German retreat.
Even after the Liberation, however, the Jewish community never flourished again: the Synagogue was opened only once a year for the celebration of Yom Kippur, until it was definitively closed in 1960 because it was unsafe; a few years later it partially collapsed. As there were no funds for its restoration it was therefore partially demolished. Only in 1995 was it rebuilt by the municipal administration.
TO BE SEEN. The Synagogue was restored and partly rebuilt in the 1990s, also in its interior furnishings, using photos that depicted the sacred building before the bombings and demolitions. At the center of the building is the Tevà, a sort of pulpit from which the officiant read the Torah and the cabinet where circumcision was practiced. On the back wall is the Holy Ark (Aròn), or the cupboard that contained the scrolls of the law: it is the perfect reproduction of the original one, today preserved in Israel in the Carmiel synagogue in Galilee. On the walls there are numerous painted inscriptions celebrating the visit of the grand dukes and excerpts from psalms or prayers; on the ceiling the ten commandments.
HOW TO REACH IT:
The synagogue is part of the Jewish Museum of Pitigliano, with access from via Zuccarelli, and is part of a route that allows you to visit all the characteristic places of the Ghetto, such as the oven of unleavened bread, the rooms for ritual baths and the kosher butcher shop.
TIMETABLES:
April-October 10.00-13.00, 14.30-18.00 November-March 10.00-12.30; 3.00pm-5.00pm
Full ticket €5.00; €4.00 reduced
IN THE SAME AREA YOU CAN ALSO VISIT:
Church of Santa Maria; Rocca Orsini; Archaeological Museum of Etruscan Civilization; “Alberto Manzi” Open Air Archaeological Museum; Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art.
Curiosity: A library was also attached to the Synagogue, which included around 900 volumes, including a precious incunabulum, several manuscripts and a few dozen sixteenth-century editions, which reveals the cultural richness of the Jewish community of Pitigliano. The library was transferred in 1953 to the Bibliographic Center of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, in Rome, together with the community archive, some sefarim (scrolls of the law), the Aron (cabinet for the scrolls of the law) which arrived in Pitigliano from Santa Fiora and a kisse Eliyau (Elijah’s Chair), furniture used during the circumcision ceremony.
