Description: Siena, ITALY - Vicola della Manna / Manna Alley - Jewish Ghetto: Etching-like rendering in heavy stock of the Vicolo della Manna in the Jewish ghetto of Siena. The street that goes from via del Porrione and down into via Salicotto is called Vicolo delle Scotte, crossing other alleys with wrinkles of shadow, unpredictable flashes of light. They are the streets of the ancient Ghetto, so much so that the same name Scotte would be derived from a vernacular deformation of the Jewish sukkoth, the “Feast of the huts”, which the Sienese Jews would celebrate in this alley. The place name of the nearby vicolo della Manna provides more immediate understanding. The Ghetto of Siena was born in 1571, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I, in analogy to the measure taken in Florence, decreed that even in Siena the Jews-present here since the twelfth century – should live in a well-defined place. Therefore, their forced residence had to be organized in this part of the city, a district of unhealthy and low-cost houses, inhabited mainly by harlots and people of the lowest social status. Undoubtedly a humiliation, for the Jews, combined with other harassment such as paying a special tax or the obligation to stand out in clothing (men wearing a yellow hat, women a scarf). Regulations were also issued prohibiting Jews from carrying out banking activities. Just as it was established that they could trade, but only if they sold second-hand goods and did not employ Christian workers. It is documented that about 500 Jews lived in the Ghetto area in the 17th century. A sizeable number and the reason it was decided to build the Synagogue, where there were other places of worship previously. Designed in neoclassical style by the architect Giuseppe Del Rosso, the building was built in 1786. You will notice the fairly anonymous appearance of the facade (from the outside, nothing should imply that it was a place of worship) while the interior has a rich decoration. Opposite is the source of the Ghetto, originally adorned with a statue of Moses pointing at the water, attributed to Jacopo della Quercia. The statue was removed in 1875 because some Polish Jews had raised the issue of how the sculpture contravened the ban on portraying images. Today it is preserved in the Museum of the Palazzo Pubblico. To return to the events of the Sienese Jewish community, it should be remembered the French arrival in Siena in 1799 restored full citizenship rights to Jews. The doors of the Ghetto were symbolically burned in piazza del Campo, but in that same square, a few weeks later, an atrocious episode happened. Arriving in the city to hunt (momentarily) the French, the anti-Jacobins of Viva Maria burst into the Ghetto with acts of violence and destruction. They killed nineteen Jews, thirteen of whom were burned alive in piazza del Campo using the wood of the tree of liberty. A plaque commemorating the victims lies on the facade of the synagogue. Another epigraph, also placed near the entrance to the synagogue, recalls the dark times of nazi fascism, racial laws, and the deportation of fourteen Sienese Jews to the death camps. The final closure of the Ghetto and subsequent depopulation by the Jews took place in 1859. From 1935, the district would undergo a major urban transformation with the demolition of almost all the old buildings. This postcard-sized (3.5" X 5.5") card is in good condition.
Price: 10 USD
Location: Brooklyn, New York
End Time: 2024-01-10T04:01:27.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Unit of Sale: Single Unit
Size: Standard (5.5x3.5 in)
Material: Paper
City: Siena
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Brand/Publisher: Unbranded
Subject: Vicola della Manna / Manna Alley - Jewish Ghetto
Continent: Europe
Type: Printed (Lithograph)
Era: Undivided Back (1901-1907)
Theme: Architecture, Art, Caricature, Cities & Towns, Cultures & Ethnicities, Judaica, Landscapes, Religious, Vicola della Manna, Manna Alley, Ghetto, Jewish, Etching
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Features: Panoramic, Etching
Time Period Manufactured: 1900-1919
Country/Region of Manufacture: Italy
Postage Condition: Unposted
