Itineraries

You are here

Itineraries
Archives
PLACES HISTORY AND ART

This section aims at helping visitors learn about the Jews in Lombardy, their history, monuments, past and present life. Large and small groups have lived in the Lombard territory at different times and political conditions, free or forced into the ghettoes and expelled overnight. The Gonzaga’s 16th century Mantua was the happy cradle of Jewish history in Lombardy, with a large number of small communities spread in the countryside all over Mantua territory. At that time, the Jews were not allowed to live in Milan, where traders who lived in the nearby areas could go and stay for a few days for business. Then, after Emancipation (1860), Milan became the centre of Jewish life and Mantua’s community got smaller. New synagogues were built, among which Milan’s synagogue in Via della Guastalla, but many others disappeared or were left empty. It’s an exciting journey between past and present, art and history.