音频游览 Jewish Sciacca - Ecomuseum of the 5 Senses of Sciacca

Sciacca preserves still today memories of the presence of a flourishing Jewish community
from the second half of the 14 th century until the fateful 1492, the emanation year of the
expulsion decree to its detriment by order of Ferdinand the Catholic. The Community was
settled mostly in the Cadda’s quarter, also inhabited by Christians, engaged in commercial
activities such as the sale of grain, leather, and fabrics of which today the notarial acts
reveal interesting useful information to reconstruct the history of this presence that in 1435
appears to be formed by a thousand individuals out of a total population of about 10,000
inhabitants.
The Jewish minority of Sciacca spoke Arab and lived in a non-hostile environment, in
which however, intolerance was always lurking, and sought to keep its own cultural identity
in a never-ending exchange with the Jewish presence from the African coasts that could
easily reach the city of Sciacca. Now concealed by post-diaspora stratifications: the
synagogue's sites, the School, and finally, the Jewish graveyard, out of the city walls. An
itinerary telling the memory of an important cultural presence, emerged thanks to the study
of precious archive documents.

Translated by Francesco Ferrara