Jewish Florence and Tuscany

Jewish Travel
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Since 1993

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Introduction to the history of the town , visit to the Synagogue and Jewish Museum and a walking tour of the city’s famous historical sites that bear important witness of Jewish history in Florence from the XV to the XIX century : Piazza della Repubblica, with the ex-ghetto area and a street near by with memorial plaques of XVIII-XIX, the Cathedral area with the Baptistery Golden Gate (outdoor), and the Ponte Vecchio area, where the oldest Jewish settlement in Florence was.

To describe the destroyed Jewish areas I show old photos and plans, and this always works perfectly.

There are other sites in Florence that can be interesting for local Jewish history. Here are some of them :

- the old Jewish Cemetery (tombs of XVIII-XIX centuries) but it is only open on the 1^st Sunday of each month ; the charge for private opening is Euro 80.00 (for group as well as for private clients) instead of Euro 4.00 per person; I am trying to request a better price. At this point in time, I do not recommend this visit .

- the Museum “Firenze Com’era” (on history of Florence, from Roman time to XIX century) where there is an important collection of XIX c. paintings (T.Signorini) which describes Florence’s ghetto area, together with a large model.

- special public archives (for scholars or very motivated clients; to be arranged).

Full day Jewish itineraries, customized to clients interest, all including some important museum ( Academia, Uffizi, Pitti etc.) or special art itinerary (Michelangelo’s itinerary etc.) .

Here is a proposal that joins the Jewish history to the art and the famous Florentine craftsmanship:

- Synagogue and Jewish Museum, Academia Gallery (with David by Michelangelo), Museo “Firenze Com’era”(morning only);

- the Cathedral area with the Baptistery Golden Gate (outdoor), Piazza della Repubblica (ex-ghetto area), the Ponte Vecchio area, and visit to a traditional artisan workshop in the S.Spirito quarter.

A full day tour (8 hours with Jewish itinerary) can include Siena or Pisa and Lucca (where are no visible remains of Jewish history but it is a lovely city to visit) or Pisa and Livorno (Siena and Pisa don’t go well together because, Siena is south of Florence while Pisa is west and that means that the clients would have to spend most of the day travelling).

- Siena : the Jewish area (ex-ghetto) with the lovely XVIII C. Synagogue, behind the Piazza del Campo; I can arrange a visit to the Museum of Contrada della Torre of Palio di Siena (Synagogue is in this Contrada) because there is a great model that shows how the ghetto was.

- Pisa (the oldest Jewish Community of Tuscany; together with Livorno the only Jewish Community in Italy not obliged to live in a ghetto): the Jewish Cemetery (near by the Piazza dei Miracoli with the Leaning Tower) and the beautiful Synagogue; only for very motivated clients. The Jewish Community archive's access can be arranged upon request.

- Livorno : the Jewish Museum with a beautiful aron, and the Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori, where we can see artworks by Jewish Tuscan painters of XIX century, as Modigliani (who was born in Livorno and lived there half of his life). The modern Synagogue (1962) houses a XVIII aron. This visit normally interest very much Sefardi Jews.

Other customized arrangements (for instance: Pitigliano, that has a nice Synagogue, Museum, Mikwè etc, and it is very interesting but far), can be arranged as well.

In Florence, we can arrange transportation and tickets to Accademia and Uffizi (must be bought together with the tour).

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