The synagogue in Pisa, Italy has been rededicated after being closed for eight years during a €1.3 million restoration process.
A gala ceremony and day-long events June 21 marked the occasion. The ceremony was attended by Jewish and civic leaders, including Pisa’s mayor, as well as religious representatives, including the local Imam.
“Today the synagogue complex in Pisa is given back not only to the Jewish community, which after many years can finally use a fundamental space, for more than four centuries at the centre of communal life, but also to the city and society at large, which will be able to take advantage of the many initiatives that will be carried out during the year,” Renzo Gattegna, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) said in his remarks.
Located in a 14th century building that was converted into a synagogue in 1595, the synagogue was totally rebuilt and restructured in the 1860s according to a design by the architect Marco Treves. Its interior, noted for a beautifully ornate ceiling, is hidden behind a plain exterior facade that faces the street.
The synagogue was closed in 2007 because of serious structural damage, including cracks in the ceiling and walls, water damage, and a partial collapse of the roof.
The restoration was 40 percent financed by the state, with the rest of the funds coming from the Pisa Foundation and the Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato Foundation.
See a video of the restored synagogue:
9 comments on “Pisa synagogue reopened after 8-year restoration”
We will be in Lucca for Yom Kipper and would like to attend services at your temple in Pisa for Yom Kippur. Are you open? Please let me know what we need to do to attend services. Thank you, Molly Sheriff, USA
You need to contact the Jewish community of Pisa. The link to the community’s web site, with contact info, is on the Communal Contacts page of the Italy section of our web site — https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/italy/communal-contacts/
my wife & i will be in Pisa in July 2018 on a cruise ship that will be docked in Livorno .
is there any way we can visit the synogouge.
is there anyone who can give me an email address or other contact
If you go to the Communal Contacts page of the Italy section of this web site, you will find a link to the web site of the Pisa Jewish community, with their contacts
what is the contact of the Jewish community in Pisa? email
thank you!
We will be in Prato April 10 and wonder if you have a Seder, in English, that we can attend?
We are four adults and two children, ages 13 and 11.
Many thanks,
Marilyn Levy
You will have to contact the Jewish community in the place you wish to be. The links are on the Communal Contacts page of the Italy section of this web site.
I will be in Pisa for Yom Kippur this year. Will there be services and will I be able to attend?
Let there be light