Belforte, Solomon

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BELFORTE, SOLOMON

BELFORTE, SOLOMON (1806–1869), printer of Leghorn. Belforte belonged to an Italian Jewish family that settled in Leghorn (Livorno) at the end of the 17th century. He started to edit Hebrew prayer books in 1821 and established his own printing house in 1834. In 1843, the local government authorized the printing of Italian translations of Hebrew liturgical texts. The activity of Salomone Belforte & Co. was continued by the family – with the forced hiatus of the period of Fascist antisemitic laws and the war – until 1961, when all the equipment of the printing house was sold to an Israeli company. For almost 100 years, Salomone Belforte & Co. was one of the most prestigious publishers of Hebrew books, meeting the intellectual and religious needs of Italian, Sephardi, and also Ashkenazi communities. Beside this, the Belforte printing house published Italian literary works and school books.

bibliography:

M. Luzzatti (ed.), Ebrei di Livorno tra due censimenti (18411938) (1990), 90–106.

[Alessandro Guetta (2nd ed.)]

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