Italy: Of Gardens and Ghettos. The Jews of Italy

Summer 2010 dates: May 22 - June 9

Jews have lived in Italy for more than two millennia, and their history reveals a fascinating panorama of the Jewish experience in the West. After a brief survey of ancient times, we will focus our attention on medieval and Renaissance communities, especially in Tuscany: Jewish bankers and beggars, poets and philosophers, merchants, doctors and messianic pretenders, heretics and religious martyrs—these and others will all make their appearance as we trace the rise of the ghettos and the ultimate emancipation of Italian Jewry. Students will be staying in Florence with a 2-night trip to Venice and a day trip to Sienna.

Arrangements to observe Shabbat have been made.

Students will stay in dormitory-style air-conditioned accommodations, with en suite kitchenettes. 

Professor Bernard D. Cooperman
Faculty Director

Professor Cooperman holds the Louis L. Kaplan Chair of Jewish History at the University of Maryland. His research and teaching has focused on the social and cultural history of the Jews, especially in Early Modern Italy. A popular lecturer, he is currently working on policy towards New Christians (Marranos) in Europe in the sixteenth century.