Faenza

views updated May 21 2018

FAENZA

FAENZA , city in N. central Italy. In the 14th century the Jews of Faenza were moneylenders. As a result of the sermons of *Bernardino da Feltre, the celebrated physician Lazzaro da Pavia was expelled from the city in c. 1480. The liturgical poet Raphael ben Isaac da Faenza also lived in the city in the mid-15th century. There is also documented evidence of the presence of a rabbinate of Faenza in the same years. Isaac *Azulai, who manufactured majolica seder plates, worked here in 1575. From the 16th century until the Napoleon era there is no evidence that Jews lived in Faenza.

bibliography:

Milano, Italia, 127, 358; Roth, Italy, 199, 202, 445. add. bibliography: G. Caravita, Ebrei in Romagna: 19381945: dalle leggi razziali allo sterminio (1991); L. Picciotto, Il libro della memoria: gli ebrei deportati dall'Italia, 19431945 (2001).

[Attilio Milano /

Federica Francesconi (2nd ed.)]