Each Thursday night this summer, the garden of Florence’s magnificent Moorish-style synagogue is being transformed in the Balagan Cafe — a varied program of cultural events, schmoozing, and kosher food & drink, that has been drawing hundreds of people each week. This week’s “cafe” drew more than 650 people.
“Doors open at the synagogue. Rather, wide open,” the newspaper La Repubblica writes.
The newspaper calls it the “real news” of the Florentine summer, and writes about an unexpected reawakening of the Florence Jewish community. The weekly “cafe” is the brainchild of the new Jewish community president, Sara Cividalli. and the community’s new cultural director, the musician Enrico Fink. It forms part of new efforts by the Jewish community leadership to promote Jewish heritage, traditions and heritage sites in Florence and Tuscany as a whole.
So far, the “cafe” has featured puppet shows, concerts by nationally known artists such as the klezmer/jazz clarinettist Gabriel Coen and the rocker Raiz, the American cantor and Yiddish singer Sharon Bernstein, lectures, discussions by noted figures such as the architect Massimiliano Fuksas and more.
There are also guided tours of the synagogue, a Florentine landmark whose green copper dome is the biggest in the city after that of the Duomo (Cathedral).
In the 19th century, an appointed commission chose one Jewish architect and two Catholic architects to build the splendid, Moorish-style synagogue, which was inaugurated in 1882. Today, guided visits, talks and entertainment will be offered starting at 7 pm, followed by cultural events throughout the night. Admission is free and people of all faiths are encouraged to attend.
Sara Cividalli speaks with Sharon Bernstein and musicologist Francesco Spagnolo (in Italian)