The Jewish community in Florence is one of the oldest continuous congregations in Europe, with origins dating to the early fourteenth century. Protected by close ties to the Medici family, Florentine Jews were spared from repeated threats of expulsion that began in the fifteenth century. (...)
The Jewish community in Florence is one of the oldest continuous congregations in Europe, with origins dating to the early fourteenth century. Protected by close ties to the Medici family, Florentine Jews were spared from repeated threats of expulsion that began in the fifteenth century. Growing numbers of Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, as well as the arrival of Jews from the Papal States, created a significant Jewish population in Florence by the middle of the sixteenth century. Segregated in a Jewish ghetto from 1571 until 1799, when Napoleonic forces occupied the city, the local community was given full civil rights in 1848 under a new constitution, and the ghetto was razed. The Great Synagogue of Florence was built in the wake of emancipation in the nineteenth century.
Unique in a city of remarkable buildings, the Great Synagogue was built between 1874 and 1882. Its enormous copper dome, elaborate marble façade, and intricate interior decoration were influenced by a range of architectural traditions, including from Moorish and Byzantine motifs. The building attracts over 50,000 tourists a year and houses a museum and cultural center. Badly damaged during World War II, the synagogue suffered further in the floods that inundated Florence in 1966.
