The first Jews arrived in Sabbioneta in 1436. Here, they had the opportunity to prosper thanks to the enlightened government of Vespasian Gonzaga This prevents their segregation in a ghetto. They live freely in the city, well integrated with the Catholic population, and practice their religion without restrictions.
During the reign of Vespasiano Gonzaga, despite the papal bulls being issued that effectively began the segregation of Jews into ghettos, Jewish families in Sabbioni were allowed to settle freely within the city's street grid; even though we know that the homes of Jewish families were almost all close together and concentrated along the axis of what is now Via Bernardino Campi, then called Via Ghetto. As evidence of this, during renovations to some buildings in the area, "“mezuzah“, glass vials containing a small parchment on which a blessing prayer for the house is written. Today they are kept in the Museum of the Duchy.
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Synagogue
House of the Last Rabbi
Forti Palace
Birthplace of Giuseppe Ottolenghi
Plaque in memory of Leone Donato Forti
Jewish Cemetery
