Overview

The intimate story of an Italian peasant community’s unique conversion to the Jewish faith, and its links to major changes that swept twentieth-century Europe Not many people know of the utterly extraordinary events that took place in a humble southern Italian town in the first half of the twentieth century—and those who do have struggled to explain them. In the late 1920s, a crippled shoemaker had a vision where God called upon him to bring the Jewish faith to this “dark corner” in the Catholic heartlands, despite his having had no prior contact with Judaism itself. By 1938, about a dozen families had converted at one of the most troubled times for Italy’s Jews. The peasant community came under the watchful eyes of Mussolini’s regime and the Catholic Church, but persisted in their new belief, eventually securing approval of their conversion from the rabbinical authorities, and emigrating to the newly founded State of Israel, where a community still exists today. In this first fully documented examination of the San Nicandro story, John A. Davis explains how and why these incredible events unfolded as they did. Using the converts’ own accounts and a wide range of hitherto unknown sources, Davis uncovers the everyday trials and tribulations within this community, and shows how they intersected with many key contemporary issues, including national identity and popular devotional cults, Fascist and Catholic persecution, Zionist networks and postwar Jewish refugees, and the mass exodus that would bring the Mediterranean peasant world to an end. Vivid and poignant, this book draws fresh and intriguing links between the astonishing San Nicandro affair and the wider transformation of twentieth-century Europe.

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9780300114256

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Reviews

The remarkable account of how a small number of Italians became Jews is set forth in this book with considerable verve by an accomplished writer. . . . [Davis] demonstrates his extensive knowledge of Italian history and his diligent tenacity in digging out this compelling but barely known story about San Nicandro''s Jews. --Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post & Opinion --Morton I. Teicher National Jewish Post & Opinion

Davis has infused this historical episode--as well as the question 'Who is a Jew?'--with larger meaning... --Forward Forward Davis does a fine job here of giving the reader the wider Italian historical context of the story... We have John Davis and Yale University Press to thank for bringing this great story to light. -Shalom Goldman, Haaretz -- Shalom Goldman Haaretz The remarkable account of how a small number of Italians became Jews is set forth in this book with considerable verve by an accomplished writer... [Davis] demonstrates his extensive knowledge of Italian history and his diligent tenacity in digging out this compelling but barely known story about San Nicandro's Jews. -Morton I. Teicher, National Jewish Post & Opinion -- Morton I. Teicher National Jewish Post & Opinion Davis demonstrates his extensive knowledge of Italian history and his diligent tenacity in digging out this compelling but barely known story about San Nicandro's Jews. -Morton I. Teicher, The Buffalo Jewish Review -- Morton I. Teicher The Buffalo Jewish Review

Author Information

John A. Davis is Emiliana Pasca Noether Chair in Modern Italian History, University of Connecticut, and a leading authority on the history of modern Italy. He has published widely on Italian history since the eighteenth century, including the prizewinning Naples and Napoleon: Southern Italy and the European Revolutions, 1780–1860. He lives in Mansfield Center, CT.

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