Cultured Traveler: A ‘Little Jerusalem’ in the Heart of Italy

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 27 November 2012 | 17.35

Kathryn Ream Cook for The New York Times

The medieval village of Pitigliano, Italy.

MY parents have an unofficial ritual: wherever they travel, whether it's Paris, San Francisco or Havana, they visit the Jewish part of town. They go to temple, they seek out local Jews, they make a donation. It's their way of feeling connected to their heritage, and also of showing solidarity.

Over the years, I have gently teased them about their custom. Who appointed them Chroniclers of the Jews Worldwide? And yet, the older I become, the more I find myself following in their path.

And so, when I was in Rome recently and heard about a tiny medieval village in Tuscany called Pitigliano (known as La Piccola Gerusalemme or Little Jerusalem) I wanted to see it. My plan was to spend a day in this walled town in the Maremma region in the province of Grosseto, about 105 miles northwest of Rome. Pitigliano is blessedly untouristy, with only about 25,000 visitors a year. Most want to explore the Jewish culture, although some are simply besotted with the idea of yet another impossibly magnificent Italian village.

And that it is. As I drove up the winding road to the hill town, 1,026 feet above sea level, I was reminded of the first time I saw Jerusalem. With its parapets, ceramic tile roofs and multitiered buildings perched on layers of red volcanic tufa stone, Pitigliano resembles a sparkling, pint-size Holy City. The village, which was originally settled by the Etruscans, was once home to a thriving Jewish population that had settled there in the early part of the 16th century. They came mainly from the nearby Lazio region, which bordered the anti-Semitic Roman Papal States that periodically drove out Jews.

In Pitigliano, I met with a local guide, Rafaella Agresti, whose English was impeccable. Together, we walked through the medieval gate into the old city, passing the Orsini Palace, a 14th-century fortress, now a museum, and the even older Church of San Rocco. The remnants of a 17th-century aqueduct built by the Medici family runs through town.

As we navigated the narrow streets, Ms. Agresti told me that the Jews and Christians of Pitigliano had led a peaceful coexistence. In the 16th century, Count Niccolo Orsini IV, a member of the feudal Orsini family, ruled Pitigliano, an independent fief whose inhabitants were mainly peasants. Although he was Catholic, he thought Jews, mostly bankers and artisans, could help revitalize Pitigliano's lagging economy. So, while Jews in places like Umbria and Lazio were imprisoned or exiled, in Pitigliano they worked as moneylenders, carpenters, cobblers and tailors.

That good will changed somewhat after the Medici family, which was appointed by the Pope, came into power. In 1622, the Jews in Pitigliano were confined to a ghetto; men were required to wear red hats, and women red badges on their sleeves. Still, the relationship between Jews and non-Jews was friendly; in 1773, the liberal Catholic Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo, officially recognized the Jews of Pitigliano, which meant they could come and go as they wished. In 1799 the ghetto was desegregated, and by 1850 there were about 400 Jews in town, roughly 10 percent of the population. But 11 years later that population began to shrink when the Jews of a unified Italy were granted equal rights and allowed to move freely about the country. Many left for Florence, Rome and elsewhere.

By 1938, when the Fascist racial laws were applied, only about 60 Jews were living in Pitigliano, among them the family of Elena Servi.

Now 82, Ms. Servi, who was born in Pitigliano, has dedicated her life to preserving and restoring her hometown's Jewish history. I was eager to meet her at the Little Jerusalem Association (lapiccolagerusalemme.it), a cultural organization comprising about 150 Jews and non-Jews from around the world. Ms. Servi founded the association in 1996 with her son, Enrico Spizzichino. It is situated inside a series of interconnected buildings, one of which houses the Jewish Museum of Culture.

Ms. Agresti and I walked beneath an arch with a half-moon-shaped sign emblazoned with the words "La Piccola Gerusalemme: Antico Quartiere Ebraico" (Old Jewish Quarter) and into the museum, where Ms. Servi was behind the counter. Since she does not speak English, we communicated in a mixture of Hebrew and my limited Italian.


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Cultured Traveler: A ‘Little Jerusalem’ in the Heart of Italy

Dengan url

http://travelwisatawan.blogspot.com/2012/11/cultured-traveler-alittle-jerusalema-in_27.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Cultured Traveler: A ‘Little Jerusalem’ in the Heart of Italy

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Cultured Traveler: A ‘Little Jerusalem’ in the Heart of Italy

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger