This year’s Passover is celebrated on the 19^th of April. Perhaps very few readers know of the great affinity between the Jews and the Italians. The history of these two cultures is embedded in many of the traditions they share, and certainly the foods. Here, I am sharing a chapter from my up coming cook book about the life and the foods of the Jews in Italy . Enjoy!

Between the year 1170 and 1173, Benjamin da Tudela (Jewish merchant from Tudela) made his stop in the Italian soil returning from the Orient. In his writing he is taken by emotional surprise while witnessing the opulence and the magnificent visions of Sicily . In his diary he writes; “you descent to Messina at the beginning of the island.

Here we have about 200 Jewish families. It’s a land filled with plantations and gardens, here gather the majority of Jewish pilgrims to embark for Jerusalem . From here on a two day trip you arrive to Palermo the largest of the cities, with about 1500 Jewish families, as many Muslims and the rest are all Catholics. It’s a land with a great abundance of spring water source, many romantic brooks and an incredible variety of foods; from grain to the finest spices and herbs lined neatly in their outdoor markets. Everyone here sells food, large bags of almonds and dates are in every street I walked”. After spending time describing the fine monuments and royal gardens, Benjamin mentions the lovely architecture of the central buildings with an obvious design influenced by Arabic style. Palermo was the city with the largest Jewish community in the all country, about 8.000 of the 100.000 population in the city was of Jewish extraction. This demographic exploit formed during the prosperous and industrious age of the Arab Emirates, and strongly maintained throughout the Normans occupancy. Since Palermo was the capital of the Sicilian reign its Jewish Inhabitants enjoyed a period of wealth and social recognition. The Normans especially, offered equal political and social participation to the Jews, or at least a very flexible respect for their traditions and religion. However, they could not achieve the right to own slaves, which was exclusively a privilege of the Normans and occasionally to some of the Muslims. Under the Norman’s jurisdiction the Jews were obligated to pay a tax in exchange for their right to profess certain job, and own specific commerce. For instance they were very involved in the fishing business, which they controlled in the ports of Trapani and Marsala among others. They developed the first system of bringing fresh seafood to the central markets, until then, usually, people who wanted to purchase fresh fish had to go to the ports for their supply. They became famous for their smoked herrings which they exported to Turkey and some of the Greek Islands . It is also widely believed that the salines (salt farms) in the western coast of Sicily were partly operated by Jews. The other two major occupations that the Jews particularly controlled were the manufacturing of silk which they learned from the Arabs (who brought the methods to Spain and eventually to Sicily ), and the fabric dye business. With the latter they set up trades with Indian business cooperatives in Calcutta and exported silk to most of the northern countries in northern Africa . It all began with king Ruggero the II. In the summer of 1147 the king on his expedition to Byzantium took many prisoners back, and with them a large number of Jewish artisans and masters of fabric design. They settled in Palermo and the art of the fabric design was born. For four centuries the Jewish fabric business led in the Italian peninsula with a strong hegemony, practically the leaders in the industry. At that time Palermo and other Sicilian cities did not have ghettos, or areas dedicated particularly to the Jews, but simply in an area called “Giudecca” where they conducted their business, usually in the proximity of the synagogue the center of community, administrative, scholastic and social life. In the giudecche the communities were large,  many of the residents dressed poorly, and occasionally were harassed by the Christians. But in all, Jews were well integrated in the lifestyle of the new land and enjoyed great life conditions, equal if not better than the Saracens and the Greeks, and it was no different in Agrigento, Siracusa or Catania .

For the next 300 years, the history of the Jews swung between periods of security and tolerance and periods of segregation and restriction. On June 18, 1492 the Sicilian Jews were reading for the first time the regal decree issued by the king Ferdinand the Catholic and queen Isabella of Spain which ordered their expulsion from the Island .

Actually for many years before Jewish community life was deteriorating, but they never felt that it would come so suddenly. But the worst part of the tragedy was yet to come. Many relocated from Spain and Portugal, and many were still trying to escape the Iberian Peninsula alive. As the Marranos reached Sicily they realized it was time to move again. The repercussions on Sicily were enormous; it was in fact the end of a tragedy, a drama that concluded in the Italian soil in the part owned by the Spanish Kingdom . The deteriorating of the Jewish life in Sicily begin time before 1492, mainly provoked by the preachers involved in the Inquisition, accusing the Jews of converting the Christian friends. The year 1474 was the most brutal for the Jewish settlements. An up roar among some of the radical Sicilian citizens sacrificed the life of 360 Jews in the town of Modica . Violent demonstration took place in Siracusa, Sciacca and other areas around the peninsula. Many of the new arrived from Spain continued their trip to Jerusalem in fear for their life. Some of the Jewish leaders who had contacts with the central government called for a meeting with a viceroi to discuss the possibility of maintaining the old privileges. The compensation requested from the viceroi for the exchange was absurd; 5000 florins, paid first, followed by 1000 each month. The money was to be used for the war in conquering Granata. But this arrangement did not last very long, subsequent to this, businesses were confiscated, homes were taken from the Giudecca area, commercial transaction were forbidden and the Jews could not leave the island without the permission from the viceroi. After years of constant progress and privileged social status, the Jews were practically destitute, forced to sell much of the properties to the gentiles, at lower price, sacrificing their businesses, mostly forced to shut down, along with the sale of the central synagogue in Palermo , revered to be the most artistic in the all island. This was perhaps the major set back to their religion. When they were able to leave they were allowed to take with them just a mattress and a blanket. In Taormina some of the Jews asked for a special permit for transporting the blanket that covered the Torah, and some cheeses made in the style kosher to consume during their trips. The Sicilian Jews totally abandoned the island, and to this day, except for few sporadic cases, the Jewish nucleus never went back to Sicily , but it’s important to remember that the Jews that left in 1492 took with them not just their meager belongings, but wonderful memories. Fifteen centuries of perfect happiness, while sharing a deep culture and great economic impulse. This remembrance will be with them forever wherever they may settle. The demonstration of care and loyalty received from the Sicilian citizens till the very end of their fate will be forever embedded in their traditions.

Walter Potenza