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Tratto da Moked – Il portale dell’ebraismo italiano
Fondazione
“It is a pleasure and an honour for me to open this evening event on behalf of the Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation in Italy, of which I am president. The conservation and valorisation of the historical, artistic, archive and library heritage of Italian Judaism, which is the aim of Fbcei, is a challenging task, which we are carrying out mainly thanks to the voluntary work of our board members. For some years now, we have chosen to hold the Foundation’s board meetings each time in a different Jewish community, for the purpose of strengthening  relations with local institutions and giving an account of our activities and work.” With these words Dario Disegni presented before a numerous audience the Fbcei Board’s two-day event in Trieste at the ‘Carlo and Vera Wagner’ Jewish Community Museum. The event, which was open to the public and filled the museum’s conference area, presented the history of the Jews in Friuli Venezia Giulia. In addition to Disegni’s opening speech, which followed the greetings of the Community of Trieste delivered by its president, Alessandro Salonichio, were contributions by two special guests: Anna Millo, Professor of Contemporary History and Economic History of the European Integration Process at the University of Bari, and Pier Cesare Joly Zorattini, former full professor of Religious History at the University of Udine. Millo presented a very detailed report on the Jews in Friuli Veneto in the modern age, entitled ‘The Jews in Trieste and the Gorizia region from the Eighth to the Twentieth Centuries’. Studies on the subject have been particularly numerous since the 1970s, as historian Giacomo Todeschini pointed out at one of the most important conferences held on the theme, in which it was stressed that the most remarkable characteristic of Trieste Jews was the complexity and richness of their identity.
Also very well received was the talk by Zorattini on ‘The Jews in Friuli Veneto in the Modern Age’. The fascinating microstories, reconstructed from non-Jewish sources, depicting Jewish life in the small towns scattered throughout the region showed how firmly rooted the Jewish community has always been in the area, despite the vicissitudes and irrespective of the origins and individual histories of the local Jews. One of those attending the event, together with the Foundation’s board members, was Andreina Contessa, who until a few months ago was director of the prestigious Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem and was recently appointed as director of the museum, park and marine nature reserve of Miramare Castle, near Trieste, one of the major attractions of Italian cultural tourism.One of the reasons why the Fbcei Board was in Trieste was the project for the restoration and valorisation of the Jewish cemetery of Valdirose, also known as Borgo Rosenthal or Rozna Dolina, the Gorizia cemetery which, after years of being separated from the city by Iron Curtain, is now in Slovenia. The project, developed by architect Andrea Morpurgo, former board member of the Foundation and currently in charge of the project, together with Renzo Funaro who represents the Fbcei, was one of the central topics of the Board meeting that was held this morning in the premises of the Adei. Approved unanimously, the project will be presented to the mayors of the two cities involved: Gorizia and Nova Gorica. Works will also focus on projects of intervention in the South, especially Jewish Sicily and Palermo, the next leading Italian city to host the many institutions involved in the activities of the European Day of Jewish Culture.Under the responsibility of the South Commission, one of the initiatives currently being developed features the recovery, valorisation and promotion of the Venosa catacombs. The discussion of this project was given priority over the many other items on the agenda, showing the extent of the activity and its ability to cover the various aspects of Jewish culture in Italy, backed also by scholarships created for young scholars.

Ada Treves twitter @ada3ves

(June 27, 2017)

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