The first official document attesting to the presence of a small Jewish community in Trieste dates back to 1236 and consists of a notarial deed that mentions the stipulation of a loan of 500 marks between Bishop Giovanni and the Jew Daniel David to fight the robbers who at the time they infested the Karst. With the city's dedication to Austria, Jews from the German lands owned by the Habsburgs arrived in the city.
During the medieval period the Jews residing in the city were mainly engaged in banking (usury as loan was defined at the time) and commercial activities. In the seventeenth century the Jews of Trieste, like those of many other European cities, found themselves having to fight a battle with the city authorities who wanted them closed in a ghetto and marginalized by the rest of the population, in the end the community was forced to yield to the requests of the authorities in 1684, but already in 1738 the Jews of Trieste no longer had the obligation to make themselves recognizable by the Jewish sign. In the following decades many Jews came to the city from the communities of the Republic of Venice, especially from the city of San Daniele del Friuli.
In 1746 the Jews of Trieste gave themselves a Constitution and called an audience "de li particulars", that is, of those heads of families who contributed financially to the expenses of the community.
Ghetto of Trieste
Address: Via S. Francesco D'Assisi, 19, 34133
Phone: 040 371466
Site:
http://www.triestebraica.it/itLocation inserted by
Tesori del Ghetto