The ornate 19th-century synagogue in Alessandria, in northwest Italy’s Piedmont region, has been reopened to the public again after the completion of a gradual full-scale restoration whose final phase began in 2019.
Designed by Giovanni Roveda, the synagogue is situated in the heart of the former ghetto, which was established in 1723 and lifted with Emancipation in 1848. It was built in 1867-71, as the largescale refurbishment of a building with a ghetto-era prayer hall on an upper floor.
An official public rededication ceremony will take place on November 6. But the synagogue already welcomed visitors, with guided tours every hour, on the occasion of the European Days of Jewish Culture, celebrated in Italy on September 18.
The final phase of restoration work that has been going on since the 1990s started in September 2019 and was to have been completed in a year.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was only finalized at the beginning of 2022. The work included the restoration of the arcaded women’s gallery, the organ and place for the choir, the bimah, the Torah Ark, the flooring, and the roof, as well as internal decorations and stuccos.
Valuable textiles in the synagogue’s collection also underwent restoration, including Torah mantles dating back to the 18th century. And 18th century wooden ceiling panels from the ghetto-era synagogue, boasting elaborate painted decoration, were restored and arranged for display in ground floor rooms that have been refurbished as exhibition spaces that will also display the restored textiles and other artifacts belonging to the community.
In addition, internal stairlifts, lighting devices, and fire and smoke alarm systems were installed. A small prayer room in the courtyard was also restored.
The total cost of the work amounted to around €590,000, financed by funds collected by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities through the “8×1000”, an instrument provided under Italian law through which taxpayers can choose a religious organization to allocate “eight per mille” of their annual income tax.
Since 1995, when the restoration project started, work was designed and supervised by the architect Andrea Milanese, who was appointed by the Jewish community of Turin, which owns the building. Only a handful of Jews live in Alessandria and no formal Jewish community exists; the synagogue is mainly used for cultural events.
“We started the renovation work at the Alessandria synagogue in 1995, a year after a great flood devastated the city in 1994 and hit the synagogue with a meter of water,” Milanese told JHE. “The work that we started at the synagogue in 2019, and that was completed in January 2022, represented the last phase of the entire restoration of the building.”
The website visitjewishitaly.it of the Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage in Italy defines the synagogue style as eclectic with “neo-Gothic influences, especially in the imposing façade punctuated by arched windows and crowned with pinnacles.”
The sanctuary, it writes, “is arranged according to the model of Christian churches, with the tevah and aron placed together in the same space and the seating for the congregation facing them. On the short sides there are two orders of loggias, defined by slender columns; on the entrance wall is the women’s gallery and around the large niche with the aron is the choir and the organ.”
The Jewish cemetery, today part of the municipal cemetery, is in the outskirts of the city, founded between 1805-06. Matzevot dating back to the pre-Emancipation period are simple, while some of the post-Emancipation gravestones are monumental and feature photographs or bas-reliefs of the deceased.
1 comment on “Italy: The Synagogue in Alessandria has been reopened to the public after completion of the final phase of a lengthy restoration process”
Grazie tanto per questo informazione. Vorrei visitarlo.