History of the Jews in Italy
The history of the Jews in Italy spans more than two thousand years to the present. The Jewish presence in Italy dates to the pre-Christian Roman period and has continued, despite periods of extreme persecution and expulsions, until the present. As of 2019, the estimated core Jewish population in Italy numbers around 45,000. In 2023, the Center for Studies of New Religions estimated the total at 36,000 while the Union of Italian Jewish Communities put the number at 27,000.
Pre-Christian Rome
The Jewish community in Rome is likely one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world, existing from classical times until today.Most certainly, it is known that in 139 BCE, Simon Maccabeus sent a Hasmonean embassy to Rome in order to strengthen his alliance with the Roman Republic against the Hellenistic Seleucid kingdom. The ambassadors received a cordial welcome from their coreligionists already established in Rome.
Large numbers of Jews even lived in Rome during the late Roman Republican period. They were largely Greek-speaking and poor. As Rome had increasing contact with and military/trade dealings with the Greek-speaking Levant, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, many Greeks, as well as Jews, came to Rome as merchants or were brought there as slaves.
The Romans appear to have viewed the Jews as followers of peculiar, backward religious customs, but antisemitism as it would come to be in the Christian and Islamic worlds did not exist. Despite their disdain, the Romans did recognize and respect the antiquity of the Jews' religion and the fame of their Temple in Jerusalem. Many Romans did not know much about Judaism, including the emperor Augustus who, according to his biographer Suetonius, thought that Jews fasted on the sabbath. Julius Caesar was known as a great friend to the Jews, and they were among the first to mourn his assassination.
In Rome, the community was highly organized, and presided over by heads called άρχοντες or γερουσιάρχοι. The Jews maintained in Rome several synagogues, whose spiritual leader was called αρχισυνάγωγος. Their tombstones, mostly in Greek with a few in Hebrew/Aramaic or Latin, were decorated with the ritual menorah.
Some scholars have previously argued that Jews in the pre-Christian Roman Empire were active in proselytising Romans in Judaism, leading to an increasing number of outright converts. The new consensus is, that this is not the case. According to Erich S. Gruen, though conversions did happen, there is no evidence of Jews trying to convert Gentiles to Judaism. Leonard V. Rutgers has shown, on the basis of tomb counts in the Jewish Vigna Randanini and Villa Torlonia catacombs, that the Jewish community in third- and fourth-century Rome made up about one to two percent of the city’s population. It has also been argued that some people adopted some Jewish practices and belief in the Jewish God without actually converting.
The fate of Jews in Rome and Italy fluctuated, with partial expulsions being carried out under the emperors Tiberius and Claudius. After the successive Jewish revolts of 66 and 132 CE, many Judean Jews were brought to Rome as slaves. These revolts caused increasing official hostility from the reign of Vespasian onwards. The most serious measure was the Fiscus Judaicus, which was a tax payable by all Jews in the Roman Empire. The new tax replaced the tithe that had formerly been sent to the Temple in Jerusalem, and was used instead in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome.
In addition to Rome, there were a significant number of Jewish communities in southern Italy during this period. For example, the regions of Sicily, Calabria, and Apulia had well established Jewish populations.
Late antiquity
In late antiquity, Jewish communities in Italy were dispersed across both urban and rural areas. Archaeological discoveries, such as Jewish epitaphs and catacombs, reveal significant Jewish mobility. Jews arrived in Italy from both the Levant and various diaspora communities. The city of Rome, for instance, attracted Jewish migrants from diverse regions, including Sicily, Italy, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Naples, Milan, and Sicily also hosted Jewish communities with diverse origins. For example, Naples saw the immigration of Jews from Venafrum, Rome, Caesarea, and Mauretania, while Milan received Jews from Alexandria. Sicily hosted Jewish migrants from Egypt, and in Venosa, Jews from Lecce and Albania were interred.With the promotion of Christianity as a legal religion of the Roman Empire by Constantine in 313, the position of Jews in Italy and throughout the empire declined rapidly and dramatically. Constantine established oppressive laws for the Jews; but these were in turn abolished by Julian the Apostate, who showed his favor toward the Jews to the extent of permitting them to resume their plan for the reconstruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. This concession was withdrawn under his successor, who, again, was a Christian; and then the oppression grew considerably. Nicene Christianity was adopted as the state church of the Roman Empire in 380, shortly before the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
At the time of the foundation of the Ostrogothic rule under Theodoric, there were flourishing communities of Jews in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Palermo, Messina, Agrigentum, and in Sardinia. The Popes of the period were not seriously opposed to the Jews; and this accounts for the ardor with which the latter took up arms for the Ostrogoths as against the forces of Justinian—particularly at Naples, where the remarkable defense of the city was maintained almost entirely by Jews. After the failure of the various attempts to make Italy a province of the Byzantine Empire, the Jews had to suffer much oppression from the Exarch of Ravenna; but it was not long until the greater part of Italy came into the possession of the Lombards, under whom they lived in peace. Indeed, the Lombards passed no exceptional laws relative to the Jews. Even after the Lombards embraced Catholicism the condition of the Jews was always favourable, because the popes of that time not only did not persecute them, but guaranteed them more or less protection. Pope Gregory I was the first to issue the letter of protection to the Jews, which became known as Sicut Judaeis and was reissued several times in the later Middle Ages. Gregory I also intevened on behalf of the Jews of Sicily after having been petitioned by the Jewish community in Rome petitioned Gregory to rectify an unfair situation. Under succeeding popes the condition of the Jews did not grow worse; and the same was the case in the several smaller states into which Italy was divided. Both popes and states were so absorbed in continual external and internal dissensions that the Jews were left in peace. In every individual state of Italy a certain amount of protection was granted to them. The fact that the historians of this period scarcely make mention of the Jews, suggests that their circumstances were tolerable.
Middle Ages
Italy, as most of Mediterranean Latin Christendom, offered a more hospitable environment to Jews than Northern Europe. They were less segragated from Christians and allowed some other professions except money lending. Mark R. Cohen attributes this to the continuity of Roman legal traditions, the survival of urban societies from Roman times of which Jews were an organic part and the lower degree of political unification. Especially the Jews of Rome enjoyed the special protection and connection to the papacy and was on occasion asked for guidance and assistance by other Jewish communities all over Europe. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Papal States were one of the few areas of medieval Europe from which Jews were never expelled.Some explusions happened, however, in other parts of Italy, such as in Bologna in 1172, as well as forced conversions: in Trani in 1380 there were four synagogues, transformed into churches at the time of Charles III of Naples, while 310 local Jews were forced to be baptized. A nephew of Rabbi Nathan ben Jehiel acted as administrator of the property of Pope Alexander III, who showed his amicable feelings toward the Jews at the Lateran Council of 1179. He defeated the designs of hostile prelates who advocated anti-Jewish laws. Under Norman rule, the Jews of southern Italy and of Sicily enjoyed even greater freedom; they were considered the equals of Christians, and were permitted to follow any career. They also had jurisdiction over their own affairs. The canonical laws against the Jews were more frequently disregarded in Italy than in any other country or region. A later pope—either Nicholas IV or Boniface VIII —had a Jewish physician, Isaac ben Mordecai, nicknamed Maestro Gajo.
Literary achievement
Among the early Jews of Italy who left written manuscripts was Shabbethai Donnolo. Two centuries later, poets Shabbethai ben Moses of Rome; his son Jehiel Kalonymus, once regarded as a Talmudic authority even beyond Italy; and Rabbi Jehiel of the Mansi family, also of Rome, became known for their works. Nathan, son of the above-mentioned Rabbi Jehiel, was the author of a Talmudic lexicon that became the key to the study of the Talmud.During his residence at Salerno, Solomon ben Abraham ibn Parhon compiled a Hebrew dictionary. This encouraged Italian Jews to study Biblical exegesis. On the whole, however, Hebrew literary culture was not flourishing. The only liturgical author of merit was Joab ben Solomon, some of whose compositions are extant.
Toward the second half of the 13th century, signs appeared of a better Hebrew culture and of a more profound study of the Talmud. Isaiah di Trani the Elder, a high Talmudic authority, wrote many celebrated responsa. David, his son, and Isaiah di Trani the Younger, his nephew, followed in his footsteps, as did their descendants until the end of the seventeenth century. Meïr ben Moses presided over an important Talmudic school in Rome, and Abraham ben Joseph over one in Pesaro. In Rome two famous physicians, Abraham and Jehiel, descendants of Nathan ben Jehiel, taught the Talmud. Paola dei Mansi, one of the women of this gifted family, also attained distinction; she had considerable knowledge of the Bible and Talmud, and she transcribed Biblical commentaries in a notably beautiful handwriting.
During this period, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, the last of the Hohenstaufen, employed Jews to translate from the Arabic philosophical and astronomical treatises. Among the translators were Judah ben Solomon ha-Kohen of Toledo, later of Tuscany, and Jacob Anatoli of Provence. This encouragement naturally led to the study of the works of Maimonides—particularly of the "Moreh Nebukim"—the favorite writer of Hillel of Verona. This last-named litterateur and philosopher practised medicine at Rome and in other Italian cities, and translated several medical works into Hebrew. The liberal spirit of the writings of Maimonides had other votaries in Italy; e.g., Shabbethai ben Solomon of Rome and Zerahiah Ḥen of Barcelona, who migrated to Rome and contributed much to spread the knowledge of his works. The effect of this on the Italian Jews was apparent in their love of freedom of thought and their esteem for literature, as well as in their adherence to the literal rendering of the Biblical texts and their opposition to fanatical cabalists and mystic theories. Among other devotees of these theories was Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome, the celebrated friend of Dante Aligheri. The discord between the followers of Maimonides and his opponents wrought most serious damage to the interests of Judaism.
The rise of poetry in Italy at the time of Dante influenced the Jews also. The rich and the powerful, partly by reason of sincere interest, partly in obedience to the spirit of the times, became patrons of Jewish writers, thus inducing the greatest activity on their part. This activity was particularly noticeable at Rome, where a new Jewish poetry arose, mainly through the works of Leo Romano, translator of the writings of Thomas Aquinas and author of exegetical works of merit; of Judah Siciliano, a writer in rimed prose; of Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, a famous satirical poet; and especially of the above-mentioned Immanuel. On the initiative of the Roman community, a Hebrew translation of Maimonides' Arabic commentary on the Mishnah was made. At this time Pope John XXII was on the point of pronouncing a ban against the Jews of Rome. The Jews instituted a day of public fasting and of prayer to appeal for divine assistance. King Robert of Sicily, who favored the Jews, sent an envoy to the pope at Avignon, who succeeded in averting this great peril. Immanuel himself described this envoy as a person of high merit and of great culture. This period of Jewish literature in Italy is indeed one of great splendor. After Immanuel there were no other Jewish writers of importance until Moses da Rieti.