From the Roman Age until the Expulsion of 1541, a Jewish community flourished in Naples. This essay attempts to delineate the development and the actual extent of its urban space. A close reexamination of the cartographical and documentary evidence allows us to correct many traditional views about the areas where Jews resided in Naples. From recent archaeological excavations carried out along the southern city walls, something new can be learned about the status of the Monterone area. It might have been inhabited by Jews throughout the centuries − both before and after Belisarius’s sack of Naples in 536. It also seems that after the Byzantine conquest of the town, the Jews moved for a while to the Vicus Iudaeorum, on the opposite side of the city walls. There is no evidence, however, of an extended settlement in that place, as has been maintained. At the end of the Byzantine Duchy, the Jews appear to have dwelled again at the Monterone, in regione Patrizzana, under the duke’s palace and the monastery of St. Marcellinus and Peter, where they had a synagogue that probably was inherited from the Late Roman or Gothic period. During the High Middle Ages, perhaps under Norman rule, a new Jewish quarter was established in the east, in the Forcella region. In the same period, however, a new synagogue or scola was estabilished at Patrizzano, close to the church of St. Renato, which in later documents was often referred to as St. Donato. From there, the Jewish quarter expanded to the underlying Portanova area, where in 1295 a synagogue − probably the still existing Church of Santa Caterina Spinacorona − was converted by a group of neophyti into a Christian holy place. In the subsequent Aragonese period, there was an extensive Jewish quarter in Portanova, the Giudecca grande, and a Giudechella. Another Giudechella became necessary when, in 1492, hundreds of exiles from Spain and Sicily reached Naples, where they settled for decades.

La topografia storica delle giudecche di Napoli nei secoli X-XVI

LACERENZA, Giancarlo
2006-01-01

Abstract

From the Roman Age until the Expulsion of 1541, a Jewish community flourished in Naples. This essay attempts to delineate the development and the actual extent of its urban space. A close reexamination of the cartographical and documentary evidence allows us to correct many traditional views about the areas where Jews resided in Naples. From recent archaeological excavations carried out along the southern city walls, something new can be learned about the status of the Monterone area. It might have been inhabited by Jews throughout the centuries − both before and after Belisarius’s sack of Naples in 536. It also seems that after the Byzantine conquest of the town, the Jews moved for a while to the Vicus Iudaeorum, on the opposite side of the city walls. There is no evidence, however, of an extended settlement in that place, as has been maintained. At the end of the Byzantine Duchy, the Jews appear to have dwelled again at the Monterone, in regione Patrizzana, under the duke’s palace and the monastery of St. Marcellinus and Peter, where they had a synagogue that probably was inherited from the Late Roman or Gothic period. During the High Middle Ages, perhaps under Norman rule, a new Jewish quarter was established in the east, in the Forcella region. In the same period, however, a new synagogue or scola was estabilished at Patrizzano, close to the church of St. Renato, which in later documents was often referred to as St. Donato. From there, the Jewish quarter expanded to the underlying Portanova area, where in 1295 a synagogue − probably the still existing Church of Santa Caterina Spinacorona − was converted by a group of neophyti into a Christian holy place. In the subsequent Aragonese period, there was an extensive Jewish quarter in Portanova, the Giudecca grande, and a Giudechella. Another Giudechella became necessary when, in 1492, hundreds of exiles from Spain and Sicily reached Naples, where they settled for decades.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11574/40134
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