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Jewish Medieval Museum in Fondi: the hidden synagogue in the Giudea district
The Museo del Medioevo Ebraico (Jewish Medieval Museum) is located in the north-east corner of Fondi’s historic centre, in the heart of the district still known today as Giudea. The space occupies what is believed to be the ancient synagogue: a building known as "Casa degli spiriti" (House of Spirits), a name that reflects how the memory of the Jewish community became a legend after its disappearance: the Jews of Fondi have been gone for nearly 400 years.
A community that was never expelled
The earliest evidence is a bilingual funerary epigraph dating back to the 4th-5th century. By 1280, the Jewish community was documented in local archives, and in the 15th century it numbered over 150 people. They were dyers, weavers, merchants, money lenders, and butchers. They produced high-quality textiles, such as the renowned "Olmo Perino" cloth. It was not the Church that drove the Jewish community away: Fondi was part of the Kingdom of Naples, outside papal jurisdiction, and the expulsion decrees of the 16th century did not apply here. Instead, the malaria epidemic of 1633 was to blame for emptying the district.
Inside the museum
The museum is arranged over five rooms spread across two floors. On the ground floor, the history of the community and daily life: dietary laws (kashrut), festivities, and rites of passage such as the Bar Mitzvah. On the upper floor, a reconstructed medieval synagogue featuring the Torah Ark (Aron Kodesh), the women's gallery (matroneum), and liturgical objects. One room is dedicated to weaving and dyeing, activities that sustained the economy of the Giudea district.
