Jewish community of Moncalvo

The Jews began to settle in Moncalvo in the late Middle Ages, before 1400 (under the dominion of the Paleologists).
They came from the territories of France, like most Jews who populated the Piemonte Following the French expulsions of 1306, 1322, 1394.

Between 1570 and 1600 several concessions to Jews are documented to open loan docks. The ghetto, which was established by the Savoy in 1731 and in which the 171 people of the community lived, was located in a short alley, with entrances from Via Montanari and via XX Settembre.
In the early nineteenth century, the community reached its maximum expansion and in 1817 a Jewish relief company was also founded. In the 1836 in the ghetto 233 people. The emancipation with the proclamation of the Albertin Statute meant the obtained dignity, and the synagogue of the restored ghetto in 1859 with a new facade on the public square. It was the opportunity for Jews to contribute to the country. Important volumes were printed in Giuseppe Sacerdote's print-free shop Moncalvo, Ippolito Israel Luzzati of Moncalvo he became famous jurist at the University of Turin and therefore was a Member of the Kingdom prodigal for associations of Moncalvo, Rabbi Salvador Foa of Moncalvo (the grandfather of politician Vittorio Foa) led the synagogue Moncalvo, then that of Asti and finally that of Turin. However, it was also the beginning of the rapid decline in the community with emigration to major centres in the region.
Some of the last senior members of the community were victims of the Shoah raids.

Moncalvo was one of the last communities to keep alive the ancient Franco-Provençal rite "minhag APAM", together with nearby Asti and Fossano.

The building of the synagogue, in Piazza Carlo Alberto, has an extraordinary characteristic: it is the only case in Italy, if not in Europe, of a municipality in whose main square there is a synagogue and not a church. With the extinction of the Community of Moncalvo, the synagogue moved on Jewish Community of Casale Monferrato. The building was sold, used as a warehouse and the precious furnishings were transferred to Israel.
The only important trace left is the façade with an inscription in Hebrew and Italian: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all people" (Isaiah 56,7), recently restored.

The fascinating ancient cemetery remains intact, placed in the green of a hill in front of Moncalvo, on the way to Alessandria, which has recently been the subject of conservative intervention.

This is the only printed composition in Judeo-Pymontesi verses. A lively composition that narrates the battle of the Jews of Moncalvo. It is the richest testimony of the Piedmontese Judaic, composed in mid-800 and was printed in 1877 by Niccolini. Apparently it wasn't written by a Jew, but by a nobleman from the area. A testimony of a " dialect" I live in and out of the ghetto, resumed by the glottologist Benvenuto Aronne Terracini and more recently by Primo Levi The periodic system.

• Jewish community of Casale Monferrato, My house will be called a house of prayer for all people. Moncalvo, Jews, battle, Tipografia Barberis, 2005.