Art and History Museum and Synagogue, Florence

After the Emancipation, in 1859 in Tuscany, Jews had the same rights and duties of the other citizens. Since they could now live in every part of the town, it began to take shape the plan of a new Synagogue. When David Levi died childless, he left in his will a big amount in order to build a synagogue "suitable for the town of Florence". The three architects, Marco Treves, Mariano Falcini and Vincenzo Micheli, to whom was assigned the plan, chose the Moorish style, a kind of style rooted in Europe in the second half of the 19th century, because recalled the roots of the Jewish people. The new Synagogue of Florence was inaugurated in October 24, 1882, after almost ten years of work.

A wonderful iron gate opens onto a beautiful path, complete with exotic vegetation. At the end stands out the huge building which was called not synagogue but Temple, like all of those built after the Emancipation. You can get to it by a wide staircase making the facade more important. The facade is on three orders, with two little towers beside and closed by a wide round arch where we find the Tables of the Law. The building is covered with stone slabs disposed in parallel, pink and white alternately. The dome, resting on a round drum, is completely covered with copper slabs, the only one in Florence and well visible by every rise of the town.

Through a three-arch portico you can reach the three main entrances leading to a long rectangular atrium, with the floor in mosaic. The interior is a square hall with three sides with spaces closed by arches supported by columns with capitals carved with arabesques on which stands the women's gallery. On the fourth side an apse encloses the Aron ha Kodesh completely covered with Venetian mosaics. The walls are painted with works by Giovanni Panti, patterns we find again on the wooden furniture, on the doors and glasses. Windows are closed by polychrome glass windows which give the synagogue a very suggestive atmosphere. In the garden, on the left, a memorial stone was inaugurated with the names of the 248 Florentine Jews deported during World War II, among them was Chief Rabbi Nathan Cassuto.