The Jewish Diaspora

Expulsion

Sephardim to Italy

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1492Christian Iberia (Castile & Aragon) → Rome & Central Italy

Why it happened

To stop unconverted Jews from drawing back to Judaism, the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella signed the Alhambra Decree on 31 March 1492; Jews had to accept baptism or leave Spain by 31 July.12

The migration

Some 9,000 reached Italy in 1492, heading especially to the Kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Ferrara, and the Papal States.34 In Naples "a large influx of refugees from Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain found temporary asylum," protected by King Ferdinand I; among them was Don Isaac Abravanel, who "became fiscal adviser to King Ferdinand i and Alfonso ii."55 The undernourished exiles reportedly "introduced the pestilence in 1492 that struck down 20,000 persons in Naples alone," while at Rome and Genoa they met "hunger, plague, and poverty."53 Duke Ercole I d'Este welcomed refugees to Ferrara, granting them their own leaders, judges, and tax reductions.6 The welcome proved fragile: after Naples passed to Spanish rule, the Jews' expulsion was ordered in 1510 and made total in 1541.55 Later, the Medici Livornina charters (1591, 1593) made Livorno a lasting Sephardic haven.7

Sources

  1. AKamen H. 1988. The Mediterranean and the Expulsion of Spanish Jews in 1492. Past & Present 119 30–55. doi:10.1093/past/119.1.30
  2. APeters E. 1995. Jewish History and Gentile Memory: The Expulsion of 1492. Jewish History 9 9–34. doi:10.1007/BF01669187
  3. BRoth, Cecil. 1946. The History of the Jews of Italy. Jewish Publication Society of America
  4. CJewish Virtual Library. 2020. Italy Virtual Jewish History Tour. Jewish Virtual Library (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise) link
  5. BToaff, Ariel, DellaPergola, Sergio, Rocca, Samuele. 2007. Naples. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (ed. Fred Skolnik & Michael Berenbaum), Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA link
  6. BEncyclopaedia Judaica. 2007. Ferrara. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (via Encyclopedia.com) link
  7. BEncyclopaedia Judaica. 2007. Leghorn (Livorno). Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), via Encyclopedia.com link