Projects

Spatializing Jews and the Economy. Towards A Digital and Dynamic Atlas: People, Business, Artifacts in Global Italy (14th-20th centuries) 

PRIN 2022 EHLWYE CUP Master:  G53D23000190006

This project aims to innovate Jewish economic and social history in the long term, by focusing on spatiality and by contributing to the common effort of the IN-ITALJA Digital Atlas. Our multidisciplinary approach is instrumental in deconstructing and overcoming the old – but still present in the general public and among many non-specialized scholars – paradigm of the insularity of Jewish history and culture, thus reaffirming the importance of the social, economic and cultural exchanges between the Jewish minority and the surrounding society. Our project revolves around two axes: 

• The qualitative and quantitative investigation of a series of case studies based on archival research and a spatializing approach; 
• the collection of both qualitative and sets of standardized quantitative data on the spatial position and circulation of people, business and personal assets, artifacts – including Jewish liturgical objects (Judaica);

A distinctive and innovative feature of this project is its multidisciplinary approach to the study of the Jewish past within the Italian academic framework. In fact, the project’s team is made up of two Units which include experts in different fields and will work within two Italian State universities. Members of the team include economic and social historians, economists, generalist historians of the Middle Ages, early modern and modern eras (some of whom are publicly engaged in gender equality, minority issues, and in the field of anti-discrimination), art historians. 

Another strong point of this project is the long-term perspective of building a complex database of information and its digital open-access representation – which is currently rare in this field and will be operated in close cooperation with the Sapienza University’s DigiLab Research Center. After the first publications by members of the project, the Atlas will be made public — thus providing international researchers with a precious source of information to be used to check the results of the project team, and as a basis for further comparisons. 

Milan Scientific Team:
Germano Maifreda (PI), Beatrice del Bo; Carla Cioglia; Luca Campisi; Luca Fantacci; Daniela Preite, Gianluca Podestà

Sapienza Scientific Team:
Serena Di Nepi (PI); Francesco Freddolini; Umberto Gentiloni; Matteo Lazzari; Massimo Moretti; Ilaria Sanetti

Jewish and Christian Marriages. Rituals, Rights, Interrelations (15th-17th Centuries, Papal States) 

PRIN-PNRR 2022 9JXJE – CUP master J53D2301768 0001

This project examines Jewish and Christian marriage in the early modern period from a comparative perspective and aims to change the viewpoint of a history of marriage that has traditionally focused primarily on Christianity and its various denominations. The Papal States, in particular Rome, Bologna and the territories in the Romagna area, will be the main geographical and political area of observation. Thus, the interrelations between Jewish and Christian marriages can be studied, focusing on the presence of important communities for the history of Judaism in the peninsula, with a comparative view open to Europe. The research will bring together the history of Judaism and Christianity, religious and political history, social and intellectual history, legal history, gender history and history of violence within and outside the marital couple. It will cover a broad spectrum of printed and manuscript sources: from Jewish and Christian religious and legal treatises to scriptural commentaries, from judicial to notarial sources and from scholarship to literature. 

On this basis, we work with a comparative and diacronic approach. This allows for the exploration of marriage institution along a centuries-long duration that may extend beyond the early modern age. An examination of the development of marriage models and practices in the period of emancipation (since 1861) and up to the Racial Law of 1938 will enable us to examine the relationship between men and women in the few decades in which mixed marriages were permitted. 

The aim is threefold: a) to increase knowledge of the documents on Jewish and Christian marriage in the context of the social, religious, political and gender history of early modern Europe; b) to make the sources accessible to the scholarly community by contributing to the IN-ITALJA Digital Atlas; c) to disseminate the results to the general public by collaborating with museums and public institutions, holding events open to the whole community and using the main social media. Both the history of marriage and the history of the Jewish presence in Italy are stories of interrelationships from a social point of view, thus also from a documentary point of view. The systematic study of the documents preserved in Italy will therefore lead to an expansion of research in institutions outside Italy and to an equally international exchange between scholars. 

Bologna Scientific Team:
Fernanda Alfieri (PI), Guido Bartolucci, Alberto Scigliano

Sapienza Scientific Team:
Serena Di Nepi (PI), Umberto Gentiloni, Eleonora Faricelli, Fabrizio Lelli, Daniela Soggiu

Visualizing Jewish Cultural Heritage. Toward a Digital and Dynamic Atlas: People, Artifacts, Books and Manuscripts in Global Italy (15th-20th centuries)

PRIN 2022: Codice 2022CZN8WB, CUP I53D23000100006

This project aims to innovate the study of Jewish intellectual and social history by focusing on the spatial dynamics of Jewish communities, manuscripts, and books, contributing to the broader effort of the IN-ITALJA Digital Atlas. Our multidisciplinary approach challenges the outdated view of Jewish history as insular, instead emphasizing the movement, interconnectedness, and exchanges between Jews and the surrounding societies within and beyond Italy.

The project is structured around two main axes:

• The qualitative and quantitative investigation of case studies using archival research and spatializing approaches.
• The collection of standardized qualitative and quantitative data on the spatial position and circulation of people, artifacts, manuscripts, and books. A unique aspect of this project is its interdisciplinary nature, integrating methods and perspectives from history, art history, archival studies, and digital humanities. This collaboration across three academic Units (Bologna, Rome, Pisa) brings together scholars specializing in various fields to explore Jewish life and culture within different geographical and chronological contexts. The project also builds a comprehensive Digital and Dynamic Atlas, ensuring open-access to data and resources.

Inter-Unit Research Lines

1. Mobility of People and Artifacts (15th–20th centuries): Investigating the movement of Jewish communities, individuals, and objects across and beyond Italy, particularly after the expulsions from Southern Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia in the late Middle Ages.
2. Manuscripts, Books, and Maps (15th–20th centuries): Analyzing the life cycle of Jewish manuscripts and printed books, from their creation and circulation to their destruction and preservation.
3. Looted Properties in the Holocaust and its Aftermath: Tracing the fate of Jewish property during and after World War II, with particular attention to cultural heritage looted and later recovered.

Unit Contributions:

– Bologna Unit (PI: Saverio Campanini):

   – Analysis of the “life cycle” of Jewish manuscripts and early printed books, focusing on their production, circulation, and preservation from the Middle Ages through the early modern period.

• Study of Jewish presence in 16th-century Rimini through notarial sources from local archives.
•  Exploration of post-World War II efforts by Italian Zionists to rescue synagogues, Holy Arks, and cult objects, relocating them to Israel.
• Roma Unit (PI: Fabrizio Lelli):
• Census and cataloguing of a collection of Hebrew manuscripts owned by the Qalonimos family, of Provencal origin, who resided in Puglia during the Aragonese era and later moved to Venice.
• Pisa Unit (PI: Alessandra Maria Veronese):
• Focus on the mobility of Jewish people, books, and artifacts between Pisa and Livorno, drawing on documentation from local archives and libraries of both communities.

Each Unit will upload its findings and data into the “Digital and Dynamic Atlas” creating a shared resource for international scholars. This innovative database will allow users to explore the spatial movement of Jewish people and intellectual culture, laying the groundwork for further comparative studies.

In the long term, this project aims to deepen our understanding of the dynamic role Jewish communities played in Italy and beyond, from the late Middle Ages through the modern period, contributing to a more integrated view of Jewish and European history.

Bologna Scientific Team:
Saverio Campanini (PI), Emma Abate, Guido Bartolucci, Margherita Mantovani, Francesca Sofia

Pisa Scientific Team:
Alessandra Veronese (PI), Francesca Valentina Diana, Massimiliano Grava

Sapienza Scientific Team:
Fabrizio Lelli (PI), Chiara Camarda