History of the Jews in Turin
These Jews escaped a few decades after the Spanish persecutions, when in 1492 the Catholic King and Queen of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella forced all Jewish and (Muslim) Arab subjects to convert, flee or die on the stake.
These universities were located in Turin, Asti, Alessandria, Carmagnola, Casale Monferrato, Cuneo, Fossano, Moncalvo, Saluzzo and Savigliano .
The main deprivations made by the Dukes and the Kings of Savoy against Jews included the prohibition against owning real estate, against joining the standing Army, against belonging to Arts and Trades corporations, and against entering schools.
On the roads were shops where Jews sold what few goods they could: second-hand items, ritual foods, and garments repaired by very skilled tailors.
[2][3] At the end of the 19th century, the European Reform movement and especially the French Revolution gave political and civil rights to the Jews on the other side of the Alps.
They began to take up every profession including the military, and as they could now purchase property and own businesses, they founded large textile companies which offered employment to hundreds of Jews and Christians.
Important political figures such as Count Cavour and the brothers Massimo and Roberto d'Azeglio, pleaded for the extension of the constitutional rights of freedom and equality to oppressed minorities in the kingdom, including Jews and Waldensians.
Eventually, King Carlo Alberto (1831–1849) made a Parliamentary decision in July 1848 permitting the extension of all civil and political rights to the Jews.
In opposition to the old Zionist propaganda, the periodical, titled “La nostra bandiera” (our flag) exalted Italian nationalism and openly supported Fascism in its early stage.
However, during this time, most Piedmont Jews developed a strong anti-Fascist stance, especially during the years of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship, and after the promulgation of the Racial Laws in 1938.
Today in the Porta Nuova railway station in Turin there is a memorial stone to the Jews deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Other communities have been absorbed by Turin because of their small size, or because numbers dwindled completely, including in Acqui Terme, Alessandria, Asti, Carmagnola, Cherasco, Chieri, Cuneo, Ivrea, Fossano, Mondovì, Savigliano and Saluzzo.
The Community of Turin organises lectures and conferences for non-Jewish schools on the history of Judaism and Jewish life in Italy with the aim of providing cultural religious information and to stop the spread of anti-Semitism and racism.
