On My Mind: A Visit to the Synagogues of Piedmonte

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June 30, 1995

Most tourists to Italy visit Rome, Venice, Florence—sometimes also Naples. Few visit the Northwestern Province of Italy called Piedmonte—the Foot "of the Mountains. Very few know that Piedmonte is a veritable treasure chest of magnificent, albeit abandoned Jewish synagogues. When I heard about them I decided to take out time from a business trip to Milan for a "cultural safari" to this almost forgotten corner of our Jewish past. I invited my daughter Karie to accompany me on this trip. We met in Milan where we met our Jewish tour guide, Mrs. Annie Sacerdoti, the author of several books on Jewish antiquities in Italy.

The ceiling in the synagogue was adorned with a few Hebrew words. All around the walls there are many biblical verses as well as historical texts. We couldn't see or photograph enough of this beautiful edifice.

Afterwards, we inspected the little narrow alleys of the old ghetto, and even saw the hinges of the gate that once had shut off the Jews from the outside world every evening.

In order to find the wife of the president of the community we walked a few blocks to a movie house where the cashier turned out to be the wife of the president. Mrs. Ottolenghi had studied at the University of Wisconsin and spoke very fluent English. She told us that there are only 12 Jews in the city. Her own 24-year-old son had become quite religious and wanted to perpetuate the traditions of the family in Casale-Monferrato.

We continued the ride through the Italian countryside, now reaching hilly sections covered by vineyards and poplar trees beautiful in their different shades of green.

We proceeded to a hill outside town where a very stately, aristocratic manor is owned by a Jewish family who are in the wine business. We were immediately received as members of the family as they showed us their wine cellar and wine manufacturing areas.

We returned to town and visited the beautiful, large city square on top of the hill. Interestingly enough, the town synagogue was placed at the center of that square, instead of the usual church. Unfortunately, the synagogue is closed, having been totally stripped of its interior, which had been sent to Israel and partly installed in the Bnei Brak Yeshiva.

We drove into the center of Asti, and parked the car near the central city square. After meeting Mrs. Sacerdoti, we proceeded on foot to the old Jewish ghetto. We were told that the Jews of Asti, as a one-time exception, were allowed to have windows in the outside building of the ghetto, which faced the Christian part of the city, but that as a result of this, the Christians invoked the rule that a Madonna had to be attached to that building, which the Jews were thus forced to look at. This Madonna is still there!

After passing some very old courtyards and the large wooden doors that led into those courtyards, we reached the Via Ottolenghi—a street named after one of the outstanding Jews of the Asti community—where we finally arrived at the magnificent synagogue. This synagogue, which was completed in 1809, reflects a much later period than the one we had seen in Casale-Manferrato. The large building was mainly characterized by tall marble pillars, and the ark was beautifully gilt-laid.

We concentrated on the ark, and I had the non-Jewish guardian of the synagogue help me take out one Torah scroll after the other. To my surprise, almost all of them were written on brownish leather in typical North African script.

We went upstairs to the women's section where we saw on the wall a framed document referring to the "Israelite University," which I understand refers to a Hebrew school.

In this synagogue a small museum had been organized, with very neat and clearly marked objects. These were mostly handwritten short prayers; printed prayer books from Venice and Livorino with handwritten annotations; besides an array of scrolls, Torah mantles, and historic documents. A number of mimeographed publications had been prepared for visitors, as well as an unusually beautiful and colorful printed brochure.

Mrs. Sacerdoti had presented me earlier with a very rich folder of historical facts on the Asti community, including a complete chronology of the historical high lights covering the period 1812 to 1984, approximately 110 years. Sadly, there is a repetitive sequence of expulsions and reinstatements of the Jews in this community.

We now headed for the cemetery. The cemetery itself was rather depressing in that it was filled with rather garish and somewhat gaudy tombstones, often holding a photograph of the deceased, or even sculpted busts. There were mausoleums and monuments very similar to the ones seen at the Mosseri compound at the Basatin cemetery outside Cairo.

The guide proudly pointed to the tombs of outstanding Jewish officials, including an Isaac Artom, who was the principal advisor to Cavour, the hero-prime minister of the first United Italian Government back in 1870.

One man whose tomb we saw was the inventor of the study of fingerprints. Another man, whose very prominent tomb held his bust, was the inventor of a marine communications device for ships.

The name Ottolenghi dominated the cemetery. As expected, with such an assimilated community, Hebrew inscriptions were in the decided minority. I noticed a peculiarity: "The day of his death" was given as Yom Halfato, ("the day of his turning over") instead of "Petirato" (his passing), as would be expected. When I asked Mrs. Sacerdoti about this later, she said that I was right in my assumption that this could be considered a translation from an Italian expression for death, such as "he changed his life."

It seems that originally cemeteries were inside the city boundaries, but that Napoleon, about 180 years ago, ordained that all cemeteries must be moved far outside the cities for hygienic reasons. As a result, the Jews were forced to "gather the bones" of old graves and move them along to the new cemeteries. In Asti there was one communal grave that held all the bodies collected from the old cemetery, all placed under one large stone.

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