List of South European Jews
Jews had lived in South Europe for two thousand years. The Jewish presence in Italy, Spain, and Portugal dates to the Roman period and has continued until the present.
Italy
Political figures
- Alessandro d'Ancona, Senator and mayor of Pisa
- Graziadio Isaia Ascoli, linguist and Senator
- Luca Barbareschi, actor, director and former member of the Chamber of Deputies
- Emanuele Fiano, member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006
- Giovanni Cantoni, physicist, member of the Chamber of Deputies and Senator
- Furio Colombo, journalist, member of the Chamber of Deputies and Senator
- Luigi Cremona, mathematician, Senator and Minister of Public Education
- Giuliano Ferrara, Minister for Parliamentary Relations, member of European Parliament, journalist and founder of Il Foglio
- Aldo Finzi, fascist member of the Chamber of Deputies
- Giuseppe Finzi, patriot and Senator
- Vittorio Foa, socialist trade unionist
- Alessandro Fortis, Italian Prime Minister
- Augusto Graziani, economist and Senator
- Yoram Gutgeld, economist and former member of Chamber of Deputies
- Anna Kuliscioff, Russian-born revolutionary feminist
- Rita Levi-Montalcini, scientist and Senator
- David Levi, poet, patriot and Senator
- Luigi Luzzatti, Italian Prime Minister
- Ernesto Nathan, mayor of Rome
- Margherita Sarfatti, journalist and mistress of Benito Mussolini
- Liliana Segre, holocaust survivor and Senator for life since 2018
- Sidney Sonnino, Italian prime minister
- Umberto Terracini, President of the Constituent Assembly of Italy, Senator
- Claudio Treves, politician and writer, grandfather of Carlo Levi
- Leone Wollemborg, politician and former Minister of Economy
Religious and communal leaders
- Samuel Aboab, prominent rabbi
- Aaron ben Gershon abu Al-Rabi or Aronne Abulrabi of Catania, rabbinic scholar, cabalist and astrologer; called also Aldabi or Alrabi, Aaron was "the first Jew in the history to be invited during a Pontificate to discuss freely and without censorship about religious subjects and papal perplexities; Pope Martin V welcomed him in Rome"
- Barbara Aiello, American-born rabbi active in Italy
- Benjamin Artom, Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Great Britain
- Solomon Aviad Sar-Shalom Basilea, rabbi
- Judah Brieli, rabbi
- Umberto Cassuto, rabbi
- Abraham Isaac Castello, rabbi
- Leone Ebreo, Neoplatonic philosopher
- Amos Luzzatto, writer and former president of the Italian Jewish Communities Union
- Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, rabbi, scholar, mystic, also known as Ramchal
- Samuel David Luzzatto, important rabbi and scholar, also known as Shadal
- Raphael Meldola, rabbi
- David Nieto, rabbi
- Riccardo Pacifici, rabbi, murdered in Auschwitz
- Joseph Pardo, rabbi
- Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, rabbi, philosopher
- Elio Toaff, rabbi and former Chief of Italian Jews Community
- Isaiah di Trani, talmudist, rabbi, also known as RID
- Moses David Vali biblical commentator, physician, scholar, and Kabbalist from Padua.
Academics
- Pedigree of Azzopardi
- Faraj ben Salim, Sicilian physician and translator from Agrigento
- Mosé Bonavoglia de' Medici, or Bonavoglio de' Medici, Sicilian physician from Messina and Dienchelele ; his Hebrew name was Moses Hefez
- Michele Besso, Swiss-born engineer
- Caecilius of Calacte, Sicilian rhetorician from modern Caronìa
- Laura Capón, physicist
- Enrico Castelnuovo, art historian and medievalist
- Gino Fano, mathematician
- Robert Fano, physicist
- Ugo Fano, physicist
- Carlo Ginzburg, historian
- Giovanni Jona-Lasinio, physicist
- Alberto Jori, philosopher
- Giorgio Levi Della Vida, linguist specialized in Semitic languages
- Rita Levi-Montalcini, neurologist, Nobel Prize
- Cesare Lombroso, criminologist
- Salvador Luria, microbiologist, Nobel Prize
- Samuel David Luzzatto, scholar and poet
- Franco Modigliani, economist, Nobel Prize
- Arnaldo Momigliano, Italian-born historian
- Bruno Pontecorvo, physicist
- Guido Pontecorvo, geneticist
- Giulio Racah, physicist
- Bruno Rossi, astrophysicist
- Asher Salah, historian
- Cesare Segre, linguistics, semiotics
- Emilio Segrè, physicist, Nobel Prize
- Sforno family
- Piero Sraffa, economist
- Manfredo Tafuri, architectural historian, critic and theorist
- Ariel Toaff, historian
- Andrew Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
- Bruno Zevi, architectural critic and historian
Mathematicians
- Emilio Artom, mathematician
- Eugenio Calabi, mathematician
- Guido Castelnuovo, mathematician
- Federigo Enriques, mathematician
- Gino Fano, mathematician
- Guido Fubini, mathematician
- Beppo Levi, mathematician
- Tullio Levi-Civita, mathematician
- Beniamino Segre, mathematician
- Corrado Segre, mathematician
- Vito Volterra, mathematician
Musicians
- Mario Ancona, baritone
- Abramo Basevi, composer and musician
- Alvise Bassano, musician
- Anthony Bassano, musician
- Baptista Bassano, musician
- Jeronimo Bassano, musician
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, guitar, classical and synagogal music composer
- Giacobbe Cervetto, cellist and composer
- Lorenzo Da Ponte, opera librettist
- Abramo dall'Arpa, harpist
- Abramino dall'Arpa, harpist
- Aldo Finzi, composer
- Obadiah the Proselyte, musician
- Salamone Rossi, baroque composer
- Victor de Sabata, conductor
- Leone Sinigaglia, composer
Writers
- Devorà Ascarelli, poet and translator
- Giorgio Bassani, author
- Angela Bianchini, fiction writer
- Riccardo Calimani, fiction writer and historian
- Enrico Castelnuovo, father of Guido
- Moses Chayyim Catalan, poet
- Lorenzo Da Ponte, opera librettist
- Leonardo de Benedetti, physician and writer
- Manuela Dviri, writer
- Alain Elkann, writer and journalist, father of John, Lapo and Ginevra
- Carlo Ginzburg, historian, writer, essayist and pioneer of microhistory
- Leone Ginzburg, writer
- Natalia Ginzburg, author, wife of Leone and mother of Carlo
- Arrigo Levi, writer, journalist and TV anchorman
- Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
- Primo Levi, chemist and author
- Carlo Michelstaedter, philosopher
- Lisa Morpurgo Dordoni, writer, astrologer
- Paolo Mieli, journalist, historian and director of Corriere della Sera
- Liana Millu, writer
- Alberto Moravia, author
- Laura Orvieto, writer
- Alessandro Piperno, writer
- Umberto Saba, poet
- Donato Sacerdote, poet
- Rubino Romeo Salmonì, writer
- Roberto Saviano, writer, journalist
- Clara Sereni, writer
- Italo Svevo, author
- Humbert Wolfe, poet and civil servant
- Aldo Zargani, writer
- Guido Bedarida, writer
Artists
- Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, actress
- Vito D'Ancona, painter
- Cristiana Capotondi, actress
- Gioele Dix, actor and comedian
- Ginevra Elkann, film director, sister of John and Lapo
- Arnoldo Foà, actor
- Massimiliano Fuksas, architect
- Vittorio Gassman, actor
- Alessandro Haber, actor
- Carlo Levi, writer, painter and physician
- Leo Lionni
- Emanuele Luzzati, painter
- Anna Magnani, actress
- Amedeo Modigliani, painter and sculptor
- Ernesto Nathan Rogers, architect, critic and editor
- Moni Ovadia, theatre figure
- Gillo Pontecorvo, director
- Xenia Rappoport, actress
- Bruno Zevi, architect
Business
- Carlo De Benedetti, industrialist, ex-CEO of FIAT, Olivetti, CIR Group, ex-deputy chairman of Banco Ambrosiano and ex-president of Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
- John and Lapo Elkann, Vice Chairman of Fiat
- Adriano Goldschmied, fashion designer known as the "godfather of denim" who created Diesel, Replay, and AG Adriano Goldschmied; currently directing Goldsign and men's Citizens of Humanity
- Moses Haim Montefiore, financier and philanthropist
- Adriano Olivetti, son of Camillo, industrialist and social activist
- Camillo Olivetti, founder of Olivetti typewriters
- Guy Spier, author and investor
Other
- Eugenio Calò, Jewish partisan awarded the gold medal for military valour, murdered by the Nazis
- Angelo Donati, banker who protected Jews in Southern France during Italian occupation in 1942–43
- Mario Finzi, partisan
- Camila Giorgi, tennis player
- Riccardo Ehrman, journalist
- Gad Lerner, TV anchorman and journalist
- Gillo Pontecorvo, filmmaker
- Giorgio Liuzzi, Chief of the Staff of the Italian Army from 1954 to 1959
- Renato Mannheimer, pollster, president of IPSO
- Maurizio Molinari, journalist and essayist
- Edgardo Mortara, boy kidnapped by Catholic Papal authorities
- Fiamma Nirenstein, essayist, journalist and MP for PDL
- Enzo Sereni, Zionist and partisan, executed in Dachau concentration camp
Malta
- Ondina Tayar, writer and pharmacist