ITALY

The history of the Jews in southern Italy and Sicily reaches back to antiquity. In the early Middle Ages the two territories diverged as one area remained under Byzantine rule while the other was conquered by Muslims. In both regions Jews formed a significant element in the urban population alongside a variety of other ethnic and religious groups. Such diversity was source of protection. Christian conquest by the Normans, who united the two regions, also brought protection, as the new rulers were keen to exercise authority, mainly fiscal, over the Jews. Later rulers, the Angevins in Naples and the Aragonese in Sicily, perpetuated this regime, although a severe persecution took place in southern Italy around 1290. A re-established community enjoyed strong royal protection until the end of the fifteenth century, although the Jews were expelled from Sicily in 1493 and from southern Italy during the sixteenth century. Thereupon the focus of Jewish life became northern Italy.