The
synagogue located in the Palazzo Sessa was inaugurated in
1864 thanks to the influence of Baron Rothschild. In the
entrance there are two marble statues; one which remembers
the community president Dario Ascarelli who bought the
premises for the synagogue in 1910 and the other which
commemorates the deportation of Neapolitan Jews during the
second world war.
The large conference room has been reopened after
restoration work that was carried out in 1992.
The Jewish synagogue in Naples is hidden off of a small
courtyard near Piazza dei Martiri. (photo)
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The first Jews to settle in Naples are recorded around the
1st century under the Romans, by
the year 536 the Neapolitan community was
sufficiently sizeable and economically established to
fight with the then - resident Goths against
the Byzantines. In 1159, when Benjamin
of Tudela visited he noted that 500 Neapolitan
Jews were living in the city.
In 1288, after Dominicans
priests spread anti-Jewish sentiments, the Kingdom
of Naples issues an expulsion for the Jews and in 1293 the
Jews are forced to convert. In 1473, the first
Jewish press is established in Naples. In
1492, many Jews that were expelled from Spain came to
Naples, King Ferdinand of Naples
protects the Jews until |
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in 1495 the
French conquer the Kingdom of Naples and oppress the Jews,
when in 1510 the Spanish kingdom wins control on the
city they expel the Jews, those who want to stay need to pay 300
ducati, in 1535 the price was raised so more Jews had to leave and
by 1541 all Jews living in Naples were expelled from the
Kingdom of Naples.
In 1735 the Jews
are admitted back in Naples, in 1831 a small group of Jews settle
in the Maltese Cross Hotel where one of the rooms
serves as a synagogue, in 1841 the Rothschild
acquire the Villa Pignatelli who according to some
accounts serves as the Jewish Center, in 1864 the community rents
space in Via Cappella Vecchia, which will become the
Community center and in 1867 Rothschild sold the Villa Pignatelli.
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Naples’s
Jewish community in the 1920’s had almost 1,000 members.
Between 1942 and 1943 fifty Jews napoletani, forced and
voluntary hosts of a small village of the Inhabitant of
Caserta, managed to save theirselves from the deportation of
the German ones thanks to the complicity, the civil
disobedience, the silence of the inhabitants. After World
War II the jewish community numbered between 600 and 700.
Today it claims |
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Address:
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Via Cappella Vecchia
31, Naples |
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Tel:
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+39.081.7643480 |
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Fax:
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+39.055.241811 |
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Email:
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Site:
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Rabbi:
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Nusach:
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Sfardi
- Italian |
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Services
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Open: Shabbos
and Holidays
Opening Hours: Shacharit: Shabbos-Holidays 9:30am |
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Tours: |
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Notes:
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Disabled access is
available.
Visiting times by
appointment, to reserve call on Monday, Wednesday or Friday between
10 AM - 12 PM.
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Other Synagogues in Naples |
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