IN SAN DANIELE DEL FRIULI
Beginning in the 15th Century and up through the first decades of the 20th, San Daniele del Friuli was home to a good-sized, organized Jewish community. The first Jews to settle in San Daniele were the Nantoas. In 1547, Simon Nantoa, whose name was already mentioned in some documents dating back to 1523, received the first regular permit to provide loans, approved by the patriarch Giovanni Grimani. This permit, which was renewable, allowed the lender and his family to obtain a five-year residence and established specific rules for managing the bank. After the Nantoa family came the Luzzatto family, of German origin, who managed the bank until it was closed down in 1714 following the institution of Monte di Pietà.
The Jews carried out a variety of activities: loans and pledges, the sale of fodder, cereals and tobacco, the spinning of silk and the sale of cocoons, the sale of hardware and the sale of used goods at their little shops that were quite popular, a variety of artisan activities, animal husbandry, goldsmith activities and beekeeping. The medical profession that they exercised, which was documented as far back as 1549 and carried out with expertise, became a distinguishing element of the Jewish community.
The Jews lived under decent economic conditions in San Daniele and they were never forced to reside in ghettos; in fact, their homes were distributed throughout different boroughs in the town. Under the patriarchal jurisdiction that reigned from 1445 to 1751, the attitudes displayed towards the Jews could be defined as benevolent, given the intolerance that was present at that time. However, some restrictions persisted: Jews were prohibited from coming to the town square during Christian celebrations and they were required to close their windows when religious processions passed by. During the 18th century the Jews experienced a period of good fortune: they built a synagogue and obtained land for their cemetery. With the suppression of the Patriarchate in 1751, and above all the death of the last Patriarch, Daniele Dolfin, in 1762, the situation of relative well-being that the Jews had experienced up until that point changed radically. The Ricondotta of 1777 provided for the expulsion of all of the Jews that were subjects of Venice and who did not have residency rights or did not live in a ghetto. Therefore, many of the Jews from San Daniele were forced into exile.
The nucleus of Jews in San Daniele was made up mainly of the Nantoa, Luzzatto and Gentilli families, while the Sullans, the Capriles, the Caravaglios and the Lollis found hospitality in the town for more limited periods of time. The Gentilli were the last to abandon San Daniele in the 1930s.
The synagogue was a place of study, congregation and worship. It was located in a courtyard that was surrounded by homes near what is now Cattaneo Square, but was at one time also known as the “Jewish Square”. During the First World War, the synagogue was severely damaged and looted, especially during the Austrian-German occupation when it was used as a horse stable. The holy arch, books and sacred objects that were saved from the devastation were transferred to Udine, and then in 1948 they were transported to Jerusalem to the museum at the Italian rite temple, where they are still on display for public viewing. During the 1970s the little temple for the Ashkenazit (German) rite was demolished.
THE CEMETERY:
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Jewish cemetery of Udine, located in calle Agricola, ran out of space to bury the dead. In 1734, San Daniele’s Jewish community obtained some town land to rent for use as a cemetery. The place, which still exists today, is in the open countryside, near the lake and the Ripudio Stream, and it is known as “la Merenda” because at one time people stopped there to have a snack (merenda). The cemetery is isolated from the town centre because the authorities assigned extra muros land for Jewish burial grounds in order to clearly distinguish them from Christian cemeteries. In 1735, after a long series of negotiations, the rental contract was ratified, but only residents of the territory could be buried in the cemetery. In 1751, the site was purchased and the Jews were free to bury their dead, no matter where they came from. The oldest gravestone is that of Ester di Baruch Luzzatto, dated 19 March 1742.
