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The Embassy of Italy in Israel

1 Italy and Israel: a Longstanding Partnership with a Great FutureSandro De Bernardin, Ambassador of Italy in Israel

3 The Mediterranean Role of ItalyA.B. Yehoshua

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN ISRAEL6 The Relationship throughout History

Simonetta Della Seta

8 The Holy Land through the Eyes of Italian TravellersMichele Piccirillo

11 Tracking Traces of ItalyEric Salerno

13 The Significant Presence of the Italian Jewish CommunitySergio Della Pergola

15 The Story of Forty Italian SynagoguesDavid Cassuto

PRESENT DAY20 The Love for Italian Language

Edoardo Crisafulli

22 The Literary EmbraceLucio Izzo

24 A Dynamic Economic ExchangeAlessandro Cattaneo and Mauro Poli

26 The Attraction of IsraeliBusinesses to the Italian MarketRonni Benatoff

28 InvestInItaly, a New Reference Pointfor Israeli InvestorsMassimo Caputi

29 The Boost of Scientific CooperationGuglielmo Castro

31 A Dialogue on SecurityLuca Franchetti Pardo and Alessandro Veltri

34 Two Italian Archaeological ExpeditionsErmanna Clemente di San Luca

A SHORT GUIDE TO ITALIANSERVICES IN ISRAEL39 The Consular Services42 The Italian Business Desk44 The Italian Cultural Institute44 Learning Italian

The Schools of the Italian Cultural InstituteThe Italian Courses at Israeli UniversitiesThe Dante Alighieri Society

45 Amitei Italia Association46 Italian Hospitals47 Other Institutions

The U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish ArtIrgun Olei ItaliaBeit Wizo Italia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ITALY IN ISRAEL

The Trade Tower In Tel Avivhousing the Embassyof Italy in Israel

PROJECT AND PRODUCTION

The Embassy of Italy in Israel

EDITORIAL COORDINATION

Simonetta Della Seta

ADVERTISING COORDINATION

Alessandro Cattaneo

GRAPHICS

Enrico Attas

PHOTOGRAPHY

Visions of the Land Archive

Garo Nalbandian

Albatross

U. Nahon Museum

Embassy of Italy in Israel

The Embassy of Italyin Israel wishes to thank:Duby Tal –AlbatrossVisions of the Land ArchiveU. Nahon Museum

PRINTED IN ISRAEL 2005

o be Ambassador of Italy in Israel is a nice experience. Not onlybecause of the beauty of the country, its cultural charme, its religious

appeal, the sympathy that Israelis generally show to Italians, the linksthat history has established between our two peoples, the awareness

of the values they have in common, or the importance of politicalcommitments shared by the two Governments.

Indeed, beyond all these, other factors contribute to make my job particularlyinteresting. Economic links are already significant, but rely mainly on commercial

relations: hence the prospect of fostering direct investments and industrial cooperation. Cultural curiosity is another fieldwhich deserves to be intensified, in order to allow the Israeli public to go beyond a “classical” (or folkloric) knowledge ofItaly: hence the need for presenting more aspects of contemporary Italian culture and the Italian way of life. More andmore Israelis are eager to learn Italian: hence the opportunity for increasing the number and quality of our languagecourses. Potential for synergy often appears with regard to scientific and technological cooperation: hence the commitmentto facilitating contacts and joint projects. The Israeli community of Italian origin plays an impressive role in facilitatingmutual understanding: hence the moral obligation of appreciating this role.

Our relationship is based on solid ground. It is worthwhile mentioning that the dialogue between Judaism and Italy hasexisted continuously, for two thousand years, ever since the first Jewish community settled in Rome before the Diaspora. Italians solidly supported Aliyah Bet, thus contributing to the birth of the State of Israel. As a matter of fact, when askedto indicate which country is “a real friend” of Israel in Europe, most Israelis mention Italy first (and many agree that theperiod of the Italian Presidency of the European Union allowed a breakthrough in their relationship).

In the last few years Italy has been one of the most outspoken advocates of the security needs of Israel. The twoGovernments have been working closely in order to catalyse an effective response of the International Community againstterrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They significantly increased political consultations. Theydevoted particular efforts to counter a resurgence of anti-Semitism (in 2004, for example, Italy took over the Presidencyof the International Task Force for the Awareness of the Shoah). They were active in bilateral cooperation in various fields,ranging from telecom to environment, from the judiciary to agriculture, from health to the fight against organised crime.

The diversity of our relationship is related not only to the number of areas of common interest, but also to the numberof levels concerned. It does not only apply to the governmental dimension, but also involves regional authorities,municipalities, private institutions, research centres, NGOs, and confessional groups. In other words, the two societiesmaintain an intense and fruitful dialogue.

But old and well-established relationships need to be continuously nourished. Just like any friendship and even anymarriage, they have to be kept alive and fresh under changing circumstances. The work of an Embassy is largely to detectnew opportunities and to ensure that they are seized. As a matter of fact, both Italy and Israel are engaged in a processof significant change – particularly in reviewing some aspects of their economic structures (taxation, welfare, role of theState as entrepreneur) – in order to cope with the challenges of globalization. Both being modern economies, sounddemocracies and Mediterranean countries, they can fruitfully exchange experiences and look for new kinds of partnerships.There is also room for improvement in traditional fields, in tourism for instance: according to the latest statistics, 10 %of Israeli tourism is directed to Italy, whereas Italian tourists represent only 3 % of guests in Israel.

My staff and I are strongly committed to updating and nourishing the longstanding partnership between Italy and Israel. Yes, we want to secure it a great future! I hope that this magazine will also make a contribution. It opens with somereflections by Avraham B. Yehoshua – whom I thank wholeheartedly – on his personal experience of Italy. The followingpages deal with the many facets of the Italian presence in this country: a presence which has the Embassy as the corereference, but encompasses a larger system of entities. Those entities too are presented here: each one of them has aspecific role and brings an important contribution to the overall and consistent picture of “Italy in Israel”.

I wish to acknowledge the work of all those who contributed to this publication, particularly of Simonetta Della Seta,who, with the assistance of her staff in the Italian Cultural Institute, ensured the editorial coordination.

The aim of this initiative is not only to contemplate the road we have already traveled together. I sincerely hope that,by spreading a better awareness of what Italy represents for Israel, it will also encourage the successful continuation ofour work, hand in hand.

I T A LY I N I S R A E L

Italy and Israel:a Longstanding Partnership

with a Great Future

Sandro De Bernardin,Ambassador of Italy to Israel

In many ways, it is one of mydreams. It became clear the first time Ivisited Sicily. I have said it many times:we have to create a Mediterraneanidentity and the centre must be Sicily.Italy must be the driving force, since thisis a thing that only Italy can do. To builda Mediterranean identity, in which partof Europe, and Sicily is situated at thisedge, part of North Africa, part of theArab culture, of the Christian culture,of the Jewish culture, will gather to shareand develop a common heritage.

This is what we have to do. We areMediterranean and in this sense I see Italy gaining a crucialrole in the region, and in the peace process, by supportingit through the strengthening of a Mediterranean identity. Bycreating a Mediterranean Centre, a MediterraneanParliament. A Parliament of Mediterranean delegates activein Sicily. The right place for all of us. As there is the EuropeanUnion in Brussels, there must be a Mediterranean Centre,which will include European countries such as Spain andGreece, but also Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya,Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and, of course, Israel. This is thecradle of humanity. I see this as Italy's role for this century.The role of modern Italy, of European Italy.

In the past, the image of Italy was very often connectedto religion, to Catholicism. I remember when I was a childand I would see the Italian flag in the old city of Jerusalem,I would think of nuns. In my childhood, I saw Italy primarilyas a religious entity. Something very much connected tomonasteries, to churches, to priests and things like that.My father worked at the Ministry of Religion; he wasresponsible for the Arab Division, and I have also workedfor a while as assistant to the Director of the ChristianDepartment, Mr. Paolo Colbi. He was Italian, and he wasnot the only one in that office.

This was the sum of my knowledge of Italy. At thattime, Europe for us meant France. My father and motherspoke French to each other and we travelled to France tostudy there. We knew the language and we loved France;we loved the French and we also loved the FrenchCatholicism. We discovered churches and we felt moreattracted to the Catholic culture than to the Protestant one.In England, or in Holland, I would never enter a church. In

France it was different. And the samething happened to us when we arrivedin Italy. A completely different experiencefrom the one we knew from synagogues.

At first sight, Italy was similar toFrance. The Italians were like the Frenchbut a little more gentle. And then wediscovered a new reality. First of all, thecontinuous presence of Roman ruins.In the beginning, it was something wedid not know how to cope with. Itresembled Jerusalem, but, of course,went much beyond. Suddenly we couldsee the beauty emerging, in a certain

way, from chaos. The combination of old and modern, ofthe Roman ruins and the streets of today. Yehoshua Kenaz,my dear friend, used to say that genius comes from theItalians: it’s the genius of art. The French have onlystructured it.

Another interesting discovery was the decentralizationof Italy. Mantua, Palermo, Bologna, Naples... every city isa kingdom to itself. Each one is competing in history, inheritage, in beauty, in art. Each one is a system by itself.So that every time you meet a different Italy, a differentpiece of the mosaic. I remember coming to Milan and thento Turin, to Venice, to Rome and to Syracuse. They are sodifferent from each other and every one has its specialnature, character, culture. Yes, especially in this modernworld, where they cannot distinguish themselves by currencyor by economy, they compete by culture. Every townorganises its own Festivals, has its special performances,preserving its unique traditions. I like this very much, sinceI believe that in the global world of today, the answer is inthe cultural autonomy and the cultural development of acertain region, a certain area, a certain tradition. All this isextremely important in order to keep the specificity and theplurality of the human experience in this increasingly unifiedworld. And this can be seen in Italy.

And, again, Italy is close to us. It is a colour of Europe,and it is also a Mediterranean experience. When I thinkabout the success of my books in Italy, I cannot forget thepresentation of my first novel in the Campidoglio. Writers,Italian writers, had come to meet me. And this was special,this was not done in any other country. Usually local writersdo not like to promote foreign ones. David Grossman had


The Role of Italy

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by Abraham B. Yehoshua

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Abraham B. Yehoshua

made a breakthrough with See Under:Love and I really felt a kind of love fromthe Italian public. We were, of course,also speaking politically, on the peaceside, which coincided with our literature.However, it also corresponded with thementality, with the family tradition andideology and all this was creatingsomething that made us more popularin Italy than in other countries. Later,many other Israeli writers were translatedinto Italian – Amos Oz, Meir Shalev…It’s always a certain writer who gives the public a newspice, a certain flavour from his country, something that ismissing in the local dish. The readers become addictedsomehow, and ask for more.

It could also be that there is some similarity betweenthe Italian soul and what I write. But how can I know? Icannot judge, I am not immersed enough in the Italian

mentality because unfortunately I don’tread the language. It could be that thissuccess also comes from some sort ofmagic. I was walking in the fish marketin Venice and there was a woman whowas shopping. Suddenly she saw meand started to say: “Oh, Yehoshua” andtook my book right out of her bag andgave it to me to sign, while she repeated:“Oh, such fortune … such fortune, athing like that”. So this was reallyhappening beyond my understanding.

It hits not only a certain code. Sometimes a rumor about

a book goes around and in this sense it has a life of its

own. Let us sum up by saying that Italians are also good

readers.

(Text recorded and edited by Simonetta Della Seta)

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Abraham B. Yehoshua, writer.

Tel Aviv by the Mediterranean Sea

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Abraham B. Yehoshua with Simonetta Della Seta

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The ItalianLegacy in Israel

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Hall of the Knights in Acre

A very interesting exhibition on the People of the Seaopened in Athens in 2003. Never before had so manybeautiful objects – vases, jewels, utensils – producedthousands of years ago, been gathered from all cornersof the Mediterranean Sea and shown together. It was easyto see how many of these items had been found in Sicilyor Sardinia, near Naples or Genoa. And how many others,almost identical, came from Jaffa or Ashkelon, from Doror Haifa. The Italian Peninsula has always been connectedto the coast of the Promised Land, to the Land of Israel.

Trade and migration, religion and conquest, humancompetition, chance, belief and power. All helped createthe history of a relationship, born long before the Romans,as a result of geographical proximity and the naturalmovement of mankind.

We are aware of this strong link when we find the longRoman aqueduct running for kilometres by the sea ofCaesarea, to the north. And not far from there, if you divebelow the waters, you may swim into a Phoenician vesselsunk long ago into the sand. For thesesame reasons those who visit the oldcity of Acre hear of Venice and Amalfi,discover the remains of a Pisan portand a bastion from Genoa, from thetime of their golden republics. And thosewho are by chance invited into one ofthe Ottoman villas of Nazareth will beimpressed by the frescoes of Venetianinfluence which decorate the ceilings.

This Land is the site of many HolyPlaces, and has been the object of manyconquests, a crucial reference forstrategic expansion, a threshold to moreEastern territories, a dream and a home.A Land which has attracted pilgrims andwarriors, poets and painters, politiciansand architects.

The Land where Ermete Pierotti, ayoung engineer from Modena, studiedand measured in the second half of the Nineteenth Centuryin order to draw one of its most detailed maps; where apriest from Genoa, Antonio Belloni, created, in 1873, thefirst community of Italian Salesians, at Beit Jimal in theJudean Lowlands – a community which, even today,represents a true Italian corner of Israel. It is impossible tounderstand the Salesians of Beit Jimal and their uniqueItalian character without knowing the history these priestsperpetuate.

The connection between this Catholic order and theItalian state is longstanding. It dates back to 1852, when

a royal edict banned all religious congregations in theKingdom of Sardinia. Giovanni Bosco from Piedmont (thenruled by the King of Sardinia) who had previously foundeda seminary in the name of St. Francis of Sales (patron saintof the Salesians) for the education and training of boys,transformed the order into a civil entity, enabling theSalesians to continue their activity and forging a strongbond with the Italian ruling powers. Over the years theSalesians spread to Nazareth, Jaffa and Haifa, where theystill run schools, and to Jerusalem, where in the old quarterof Musrara, Salesian nuns run a k indergarten.

Not far from there – in today’s Ha-Rav Kook Street –the Italian General Consulate in Jerusalem once stood, anexpression of the historical, and in many ways natural linkbetween the Christian Holy Sites and the interests of Italy.Another piece of “Italiana” appears at the intersection ofHaNevi’im and Shivtei Yisrael Streets: the scallops, friezesand tower of the Italian Hospital – now part of the Ministryof Education – mimic Florence’s Palazzo della Signoria. In

1887, in the midst of Italy’s struggle to compete with Francefor the protection of the Holy Sites in the Near East, theItalian Missionary Society was established in Turin to helpthe Italian Catholics in the Holy Land maintain the nationalcharacter of their institutions. In the summer of 1912, twoyoung brothers, both architects from Rome, Giulio andAntonio Barluzzi, met with Professor Ernesto Schiapparelli,a well-known Egyptologist and founder of the ItalianMissionary Society, to discuss plans to build a 100-bedhospital in Jerusalem. The work, interrupted by the startof the First World War (during which many Italians were

T H E I T A L I A N L E G A C Y I N I S R A E L

The Relationshipthroughout History

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by Simonetta Della Seta

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Bet Jimal (Bet Shemesh)– The Monastery and School of Agriculture

evacuated from Palestine) was completed only whenJerusalem was captured by the British and the HighCommissioner gave the Missionary Society the permissionto inaugurate the hospital. The story of the OspedaleItaliano in Nazareth is slightly different, since it was built in1884 by the Order of the Hospital of St. John(Fatebenefratelli, in Italian). The Italian Hospital in Haifa wasinaugurated in 1933, its façade decorated according tothe style of the time.

Italian presence from the same period makes itself feltin Jerusalem from a strategic position high above streetlevel. Every day, thousands of people cross the intersectionof Jerusalem's Jaffa Road and Shlomzion HaMalka Street.Overhead, a winged lion carved from Carrara marble, thesymbol of the Assicurazioni Generali insurance company,perches on the façade of a building completed in 1935and designed by Italian architect Marcello Piacentini. Atthat time, Italy could already count on many contacts withthe Jews of Palestine, and with the Zionist movement ingeneral.

Back in the beginning of the Nineteenth Century,Benedetto Musolino, a young politician from Calabria wholater joined Garibaldi’s army, had foretold the return of theJews to the Promised Land.

A short time later, the Italian national movement – theRisorgimento – had not only attracted hundreds of‘emancipated’ Italian Jews, but was an inspiration to theJewish people, a metaphor of a nation deprived of itshomeland – as descr ibed in Verdi ’s Nabucco .

In a parallel way, the Jews had looked at theRisorgimento as the most successful example of a revivalof a nation, with its culture, its language and its completeindependence from other states and powers. One of theprecursors of political Zionism, the German Moses Hess,published his first important book in 1862 under the titleRome and Jerusalem. “A sentiment which I believed I hadsuppressed beyond recall is alive once again”, wrote Hessin his book. “It is the thought of my nationality, which isinseparably connected with my ancestral heritage, with theHoly Land and the Eternal City, the birthplace of the belief

in the divine unity of life and of the hope for the ultimatebrotherhood of all men… The history of the nations ofEurope in the last three hundred years amply illustrates thetruth of this assertion, but I will restrict myself to the eventsnow transpiring in Italy. On the ruins of Christian Rome aregenerated Italian people is arising.”

It is not a secret that some of the leaders of the Zionistmovement were inspired by Italian nationalism. One ofthem, Zeev Jabotinsky, the founder of Zionist Revisionism,often stressed his admiration for one of the fathers ofRisorgimento, Giuseppe Mazzini.

The sympathy of many Italians for the Jewish peoplehas always crossed different political parties. During the1930s, a school for Jewish sailors functioned inCivitavecchia, near Rome, where Italians trained those wholater became the first commanders of the Israeli Navy. Afterthe Second World War, Italians supported in many waysthe migration to British Palestine of Jewish refugees fromEurope, a complex operation known as Aliyah Beth, whichcontributed to the birth of the Jewish State. The story hasbeen told in her book Clandestini del mare by Ada Sereni,a leading protagonist of this initiative. Ada and her husbandEnzo Sereni – who was in the resistance against the Nazisand died in Dachau in 1945 after trying to save Jews inoccupied Italy– have become in many ways a symbol ofthis bond between Italy and Israel.

No doubt the long friendship between the two countrieshas also been reinforced by the presence in Israel of a verysignificant Italian Jewish community, which makes itselffelt in various aspects of life in the country, from the bigcities to the kibbutz, from the universities to the hospitals,from industry to agriculture.

The building on Hillel Street in Jerusalem, originallypart of a German Catholic school built in the 19th century,now houses a synagogue built in 1701 in ConeglianoVeneto, near Venice, and an important Museum of ItalianJewish Art.


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Simonetta Della Seta, Director of the ItalianCultural Institute in Israel

Acre - General View of the Old City

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It seems appropriate to start this essay, dedicated toItalian travellers in the Holy Land, by remembering themerchants from Amalfi who, ingenious and generous, foundedan institution, that in the Crusader era, would become ahospital for needy pilgrims, in the heart of Jerusalem, in frontof the Holy Sepulchre.

Historian William of Tyre gives an account of it: “Amongthe Westerners of those centuries (of Muslim occupation),who tried for commercial reasons to reach those places, therewere also Italians, called Amalfitani, because of the city theycame from (fuerunt viri de Italia, qui ab urbe quam incoluntdicuntur Amalfitani)... (They were the ones who) built at astone’s throw from the gate of the Church of the Resurrectionof the Lord, in front of it, a church in honor of the Holy andGlorious Mother of God and Eternal Virgin Mary, togetherwith some buildings, that could offer a certain hospitality andcomfort for both the monks and their guests. Since they wereLatin people, both those who had built it and the clerics whoguarded it, from that day on – until this day – the place iscalled Monastery of the Latins.”

Bishop John of Vitry reports in his Historia Hierosolymitanaseu Orientalis: “Later on, as the influx of pilgrims grew, sincethe above monasteries were not sufficient to give hospitalityto all the wretched and the sick, the aforementioned abbotand monks built in the same place, near the church, a hospitalto serve the indigent and the sick and a chapel dedicated toSt. John the Beggar…”

This charitable, humanitarian institution survived the LatinKingdom of Jerusalem and was inherited in the 16th century

by the Franciscans of the Guardianship of the Holy Land;very soon they started to welcome pilgrims, at first in theguest rooms adjacent to the Mount Zion Monastery, until1551, and later in the San Salvatore Monastery. In the 19thcentury it was replaced by the modern Casa Nova.

The Bishop of Acre described the diverse populationsarriving in the Holy Land “that bloomed as a paradise”,attributing the merit to God Almighty: “He populated the (Holy)Land with different categories of persons, of different tonguesand nationalities… especially Genoese, Venetians and Pisans”.Immediately afterwards he cites them as an ideal example tobe emulated: “The Italians are dignified and sensible, wiseand peaceful, moderate in food, sober in wine. (They are)elegant and talkative in speech, cautious in decisions, diligentand careful in providing a government for themselves, persistentand far-sighted for their future, they refuse to submit to others,defend their freedom above all else, obey a captain chosenamong them, and lay down rights and rules for their communitywhich they thoroughly abide by. They are invaluable for theHoly Land, not only in battles, but also for maritime traffic,commerce and the transportation of pilgrims and theirprovisions. And since they are frugal in drinking and eating,they live longer than any other Western people in that regionof the East”.

Clearly following a request from the people involved, whowanted to emphasize Genoa’s part in the success of the FirstCrusade, King Baldwin I inscribed in gold letters over the archof the apse above the choir altar in the Basilica of the HolySepulcher: PRAEPOTENS GENUENSIUM PRAESIDIUM (THEVERY POWERFUL HELP OF THE GENOESE).

Writer PilgrimsAmong the Genoese who decided to startout for the Holy Land in 1100, was alsothe young Caffaro, son of Rustico ofCaschifelone (today known as Catrofinodi Pocevere, near Genoa), who hadparticipated in the siege and conquest ofthe port of Arsuf, near Caesarea, on Maythe 9th 1101. Upon his return to Genoa,he started to write Annali Genovesi anda De Liberatione Civitatum Orientis, twomasterpieces in which he describes theimaginary pilgrimage to Jerusalem ofGodfrey of Bouillone and the miracle ofthe holy fire in the Basilica of the HolySepulchre, adding to this a list of the maincities of the Syrian-Palestinian coastlineand their distance from Tortosa toJerusalem.

In both instances, the reliability of thefirst hand testimony is noted: “The

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The Holy Land through theEyes of Italian Travellers

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by Michele Piccirillo

The Madaba Map (6th century) Representing Jerusalem

aforesaid miles are written by Caffaro’s calculation, becauseCaffaro, as a soldier, very often covered the distance betweenAntioch and Jaffa by land, then travelled by sea, and reportedthat the miles were as he had calculated”.

Also in 1100, an anonymous monk of Lido chronicledthe pilgrimage of Venetians, led by Bishop Enrico and Gian-Michele, son of the Doge. The ships that had been driveninto deep sea “by the Venetian clergy and monks with their

prayers”, moored at the Jaffa harbor, where they were greetedby the Patriarch and Godfrey of Bouillone. Following the HolyMass at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, “our people visitedwith deep and poignant devotion all the habitual Holy Placesand the ones that pilgrims must look for, both in and out ofthe city. They (also) made generous and unique donations.For this reason the Frankish clergy used to praise them, forbeing openhanded towards the churches and distinguishedin their religiosity. Others glorified them mainly for the eleganceof their uniform and for their dexterity in arms”.

A manuscript at the Vatican Library describes thepilgrimage of Brother Belardo of Ascoli, who stayed in theHoly Land between 1112 and 1120, and left us a precioustestimony of the state of the sanctuaries in the first years ofthe Crusaders’ occupation.

In 1137, Pietro Diacono, librarian monk of theMontecassino Abbey, who never came to the Holy Land,wrote Itinerarium de Locis Sanctis, which enjoyed remarkablecirculation in Europe. This volume was emulated, two centurieslater, by poet and humanist Francesco Petrarca of Arezzo,who – by means of a book he wrote – made up for the journeyDiacano never made. In the Il Milione, written from dictationby Rustichello of Pisa, we can find the story of the arrival ofNicolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo at Acre, and of their journeyto Jerusalem, in order to satisfy the Grand Khan’s wish tohave some oil from the lamps burning over the Holy Sepulchre.

Between 1288 and 1291, the last years of the Crusaders’presence in the Holy Land, Brother Ricoldo Pennini ofMontecroce, a Florentine from the Order of San Domenico,made his pilgrimage, which he recorded in his LiberPeregrinationis. After visiting the Holy Places, Brother Ricoldo

journeyed through Syria, Cilicia and Turkey to Mesopotamia,where he was notified of the storming of Acre in July 1291and the killing of the Dominican and Franciscan friars of thecity. To his dismay, in the market of Baghdad, he foundliturgical objects stolen during the pillage of Acre.

Among the documents written by members of the ItalianJewish community who visited the Land of Israel and wroteof their stay, are the letters of Elias of Ferrara of 1434; theitinerary of Rabbi Meshulam Ben Rabbi Menachem of Volterraof 1481; and the letters of Obadiah of Bertinoro, who arrivedin 1487. Other pilgrims of the same era were Alessandro diFilippo Rinuccini (1473-74); Alessandro Ariosto (1475); SantoBrasca (1480). Another writer-pilgrim was the notary Nicolade Martoni from Carinola in Terra di Lavoro (the present-dayProvince of Caserta). His journey lasted a whole year, from1394 to 1395. He was a subject of the Kingdom of Naples,which to him was “Our Kingdom of Italy”, and he was thefirst to report about the new undertaking of the Minor Friarsof the Mount Zion Monastery – tourist guides for Westernpilgrims.Descriptions of the Holy Land and Pilgrims’ Guides Writtenby Italian Franciscans

Historical Franciscan sources record the name of BrotherEgidio of Assisi, who, in 1215, went to the Holy Land. Hewas followed by Francis in 1219-1220, after the famousencounter in Damietta with the Sultan of Egypt, Malik El-Kamil, Salah El-Din’s grandson. Yet another famous pilgrimof Franciscan origins was the Blessed Pellegrino de domoFalleronis of Arezzo, who went to the Holy Land in 1222:“Burning with the love of Christ and the desire of martyrdom,he went to Jerusalem to visit the very sacred places of theRedeemer, taking along but the Gospel”.

Since the beginnings of the Franciscan order – given theinterest the Minor Friars had in the Holy Places – there hasalso been Franciscan literary activity regarding the Holy Land:descriptions, guidebooks and maps were published, layingthe foundations for modern Palestinology.

From the period immediately before the fall of Acre wecan mention the work of Brother Fidenzo of Padua, FatherSuperior of the Province of Syria, who, upon request from


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Jerusalem – Museum of the Studium Biblicum FranciscanumAncient Model of the Holy Sepulchre

Jerusalem – The Courtyard of St. Mary of the Latins (Redeemer Church) – Detail of a Capitol

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Pope Gregorius X, wrote De Recuperatione Terrae Sanctae.In it he narrates how, thanks to a safe-conduct granted bythe authority, he traveled freely through Muslim territory andeven rode with the triumphant army of Sultans Bibars andKalaun for several days, in order to ensure religiousassistance to the Christian prisoners.

This first period ends with the recently rediscoveredand published Descriptio Terrae Sanctae, written by FatherGiovanni Fidanzola from Perugia (1330), who was alsoMinister of the Overseas and Syrian Province. The onlyexisting manuscript, kept at the Casanatense Library inRome, is embellished by three drawings, one of which isa very meticulous plan of the Holy Sepulchre Basilica.

Literary activity became ever more important after theperiod of 1333 to 1342, when the Minor Friars obtainedpermanent residence in the Mount Zion Monastery, builtthanks to an agreement which also covered commercialaspects (free seafaring around the Mediterranean). Theagreement was signed between the king of Naples, Robertod’Angiò, and Sancha of Majorca, as one party, andMuhammad en-Nasir, Sultan of Egypt, as the other. TheMount Zion Monastery became a focal point for Westernpilgrims coming to Jerusalem, and an operative base forimportant missions of the Holy See, regarding the reunionof Christian churches. Very soon the Friars added guidanceservices to the liturgical services they provided, as witnessedby notary Nicola de Martoni from Carinola in 1394(Pellegrinaggio ai Luoghi Santi), ten years after Florentinepilgrims Frescobaldi, Sigoli and Gucci.

The second period starts with the Libro d'Oltramareby Brother Niccolò of Poggibonsi (1340-1350), a workwhich gained great success, written in the Sienese dialect,which has ever since been copied and reprinted repeatedly.Brother Niccolò writes: “Here (in the Basilica of the HolySepulcher) the Latins officiate, that is the Minor Friars ofour people, Latin Christians; because in Jerusalem and inthe entire Overseas (province) – that is Syria, Israel, Arabiaand Egypt – there are no other clerics, priests or monks,save for the Minor Friars, and they are called LatinChristians”. Upon entering the Bethlehem Basilica, hemakes a point of reminding his readers: “The church ofBethlehem, upheld today by the Minor Friars of Saint

Francis, was bestowed to us byMedephar, Sultan of Babylon (Cairo). TheFriars entered it while I was in Jerusalem”.

Brother Niccolò underlines the factthat he stayed over 4 years in the NearEast and mentions – as proof ofauthenticity – that he served at the HolySepulchre on March 25th, 1347, PalmSunday. The deep and endur ingknowledge of the Holy Land isquintessential in the Franciscan oeuvres;with time, this will become the object ofgreat pride as well as the hermeneuticalprinciple of a certain way of reading andinterpreting the Scriptures, in addition todocumenting a historical era. In the 15thcentury, the most significant work isTrattato di Terra Santa e dell'Oriente,written by Brother Francesco Suriano,and published in three additional editionsfrom 1485 to 1524. He came often tothe Middle East as a young and ingenious

Venetian merchant, and, later on, as a Minor Friar, servedtwice as Guardian of the Mount Zion Monastery and wastherefore the Guardian of the Holy Land. He relates how,before becoming a monk at the age of 25, he had alreadytaken part in 16 journeys. He had been to Lepanto, Beirut,Alexandria, Algiers, Tripoli and Gaza. In 1484 he went backto Italy and wrote a first account of his stay in the East.

Subsequently, in the 16th and 17th centuries, reportsabout the activities in the service of the Holy Land and ofthe pilgrims, is found in works of great antique value. Thesewere written in the Monastery of San Salvatore, which,from 1557, became the new seat of the Franciscancommunity, having been barred from Mount Zion in 1551.We shall mention only two such oeuvres, written by friarsof Italian origin: the first realistic map of the city of Jerusalem,carried out by Brother Antonino De Angelis from Lecce(Rome 1578, engraving by Mario Cartaro); followed by thefirst architectural survey of the Holy Land Sanctuaries,measured by Brother Bernardino Amico (Trattato dellePiante et Immagini dei Sacri Edificii di Terra Santa, Rome1609, with engravings by Antonio Tempesta; second editionFlorence 1620, with engravings by Jacques Callot). Theleading spirit of this group of monks was FatherGianfrancesco della Salandra, of Calabrian nationality, wholived in the Holy Land for over three decades (1568-1601)and was extremely interested in the history of Jerusalem.

For over 13 years the Monastery hosted FatherFrancesco Quaresmi of Lodi, considered the foundingfather of modern Palestinology. Here he wrote the ElucidatioTerrae Sanctae, the first encyclopedic work about the HolyLand, published in two volumes in 1639 in Antwerp. Thiscultural endeavor paved the way for the work of the brothersof the archeological confraternity of the Studium BiblicumFranciscanum, established by the Guardianship of the HolyLand in the beginning of the 20th century, an institution inwhich personalities such as Father Bellarmino Bagatti andFather Virgilio Corbo excelled.


10

Michele Piccirillo, ofm, Archaeologist,Studium Biblicum Francescanum

Jerusalem – The Church of Flagellation

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Past and present. Two reference points. I latched on tothem on my first visit. The winged Lion of San Marco thatdominates the heart of Jerusalem from its place high on thefront of the Assicurazioni Generali building was a symbol, inmy eyes, of the numerous ties between the Italic peninsulaand Palestine. Another symbol was kibbutz Netzer Sereni,on the plain south of Tel Aviv that carries the name of anItalian that arrived here in the Thirties of the last century toparticipate in the creation of a new entity and transform theancient dream of the Jews into a reality. A reality that todaystill has vast cultural and historical connections to Italy.

Jerusalem expresses the most complex aspect of thisland and also its most fascinating. Here, the strata, numerousand intertwining, are deep and profound. Walking throughthe ancient and more modern streets, and delving into thecharged containers of memory, one finds traces of what wehave in common, from the times of the Romans to those ofmodern Italy, from the era of the Hebrew tribes that chose tosettle on the ridge where Jerusalem was founded up to thecreation of the modern State of Israel.

The major shareholders of the Assicurazioni Generaliwere Jews of Trieste, when in the early 1930’s, MarcelloPiacentini, the well-known Italian architect designed thebuilding at the intersection of Jaffa Road and ShlomzionHaMalka. Their attachment to the city that Israel considersits capital went much further than sole financial and businessconsiderations. Piacentini’s work, his style, brings us back tothe Italy of that period. Another Italian architect, less renowned,has left behind an imprint on Jerusalem and many locationsin the rest of the Holy Land that is larger and more complex.We are in debt to the Roman Antonio Barluzzi, for, amongstother things, the Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem, theBasilica of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor in the north ofthe country, and the magnificent building of the Terra Sanctajust a few steps from the smaller house that is, today, theofficial residence of the Prime Ministers of Israel, in Jerusalem.When Barluzzi built it for his Franciscan brothers, it was calledthe College of Terra Santa and the change of name to TerraSancta was ordered by the British Franciscan frairs whowanted to distance themselves and their Order from FascistItaly when it entered the war on the side of Nazi Germany.

The Generali building is a reference point for the localpeople much the same as the Lion of San Marco on theGenerali building in Rome’s Piazza Venezia. Terra Sancta,used for some years by the Hebrew University, has beeninternalized by the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the extent thatit was immortalized in one of Amoz Oz’s first books, MyMichael. In the Nineties, the Madonnina on the cupola ofTerra Sancta appeared in the opening scenes of a televisionserial about local courts. The statue of Mary, a copy of theone that is dear to the Milanese and that was donated by

them, was dedicated by Prince Umberto II when he visitedJeusalem in 1928. A year later the Franciscan school wasopened and, like a magnet, attracted students of all religionswith its ecumenical policy. Jews and Muslims were treatedthe same as Catholics and other Christians.

Barluzzi, before arriving in the Holy Land, had worked,amongst other places, at the excavations at Castel Sant’Angeloin Rome and with his brother Giulio, the engineer, in creatingthe Zoo in the Villa Borghese. His attachment to Italianarchitecture is evident in the structure of the old Italian hospitalin the Musrara neighborhood in Jerusalem, with it’s loomingbell tower, designed together with Giulio Barluzzi, after thePalazzo Vecchio in Florence. His love for Italian art is evidentin his choice of Duilio Cambellotti e Alberto Gerardi, of theRoman school, to decorate some of his churches.


TrackingTraces of Italy

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by Eric Salerno

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The Ancient Residence of the Venetian Ambassador in Acre

In the midst of so many Christian and Muslim holy sitesand places of worship in Jerusalem, the most beautiful Jewishone is also of Italian origin. The splendid synagogue ofConegliano Veneto was taken apart and rebuilt, piece bypiece, in the heart of the new city. It is not a museum piece,but the place where the Jews of Italian origin congregate topray and also to maintain their ties to their past.

A virtual trek along the historical, archeological, mysticaland contemporary tracks of Italian presence takes us north.San Giovanni d’Acri, Acre, as it is known in Israel, the greatCrusader port with its Venetian and Genoese quarters, is animportant cultural tie that is constantly renewed thanks toItalian and Israeli joint ventures to preserve and consolidate

this heritage. Places and people. Past and present. Manyyears ago, not far from Akko, I met Ada Sereni, the widowof Enzo Sereni in an attempt to reconstruct the period inwhich they, both Italians, had participated in the founding ofkibbutz Givat Brenner years before Enzo died in Dachau.

The Nazis captured him when he was parachuted intoGermany by the British. Ada, after the foundation of the Stateof Israel, was a secret agent, but before that, thanks to herfriends in the Christian Democrat party in Rome she was ableto organise the capture of a boat that had docked in Italy andtransport its precious cargo of arms to Palestine. She passedaway not many years ago in an old age home in Jerusalem.

Another name comes to mind as one travels in the north,that of an Arab- Israeli, Sharif Sharif, who studied art restorationin Italy. He dedicated much of his work to the city of Nazareth,where he became the Head of Antiquities and Conservation.He and his team of assistants have rediscovered, cataloguedand restored the beautifully decorated fresco ceilings in thehomes of the local nobility and the rich. They were openedto the public in 2000, in time for the Jubilee when Pope JohnPaul II visited the Holy Land, and are part of the tourist routein the Galilee that takes one through various Christian sites(and again we find examples of the work of Antonio Barluzzi),including the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth by theItalian architect Giovanni Muzio, ancient cities and Romanruins like those of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast, andTiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Traces of men and women,living and recently passed away, that all left their Italic imprintsin sand and stone, in hearts and minds.

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Jerusalem – Italian Hospital (now part of the Ministry of Education),Built by Barluzzi in Tuscan Renaissance Style

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Eric Salerno, Journalist And Writer, MiddleEast Correspondent for il Messaggero

Jerusalem – Basilica (Antonio Barluzzi) and Garden of Getshemane

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Although not very sizeable, the Italian Jewishcommunity in Israel – also popularly known as theItalkim – has fulfilled and fulfills a significant role inIsraeli society and in the development of bilateralrelations between Italy and Israel. The very definitionof the Italian group lends itself to different criteria,resulting in quite variable orders of magnitude. Thenumber of Italian citizens in Israel is currently estimatedat about 10,000, about half of them born in Italy.The difference is due to the second and thirdgenerations of people born in Israel, and to a numberof other Italian citizens born abroad who immigratedto Israel from third countries – mostly in theMediterranean area. Another important presence inIsrael concerns Jews from Libya, who brought withthem many memories of Italian language and cultureand whose number amounted in 2003 to 18,000Libyan-born and another 60,000 born in Israel toLibyan-born parents.

A summary of Italian immigration since the endof World War I shows major fluctuations over time.These variations mark important stages in the historyof the Jewish community in Italy, on the one hand,and of the State of Israel, on the other.

The grand total of about 8,600 immigrants onlyrefers to people who were officially recorded asimmigrants, for the most part Jews. These data donot include the numerous tourists and temporaryresidents – of whom many belong to Christianreligious organizations – and who often actuallybelong to Israel’s permanent population. Excludedare also the several tens of thousands of peoplewho, during the post-World War II years, reachedPalestine and Israel, often illegally, sailing from localitiesnear the Italian coast where they had found temporaryshelter after the tragedy of the Shoah in Europe.

The beginnings of a permanent Italian presencein Palestine go back to the 1920s and early 1930s.Some young Italian Jewish activists or families –such as Enzo and Ada Sereni from Rome, AlfonsoPacifici from Florence, Dante Lattes from Trieste -moved to Mandatory Palestine, following their dreamof joining the Zionist movement and possessing astrong will to revive Jewish culture. In the early1930s, Italian Zionism had grown, even though itwas still limited to a small group of people: the Zionistleader Chaim Weizmann would describe it as a

“miniature phenomenon”. Itgrew because of its basicorganizational structure andideology which was able toa t t rac t the youngergeneration. Italian Zionistswere able, for example, toprogress through the useo f J e w i s h s u m m e rrec rea t ion camps ( icampeggi), which preparedmany youngsters for life inEretz Yisrael.

However, the formativestage of the Italian Jewishcommun i ty in I s rae loccurred during the late1930s, stimulated by theemerg ing ant isemi t iclegislation in Italy in 1938.This group, over a thousandstrong, included a highpercentage of academics and managers who werebound to fulfill an important role at high intellectualand administrative levels in the future State of Israel.Among them, some distinguished families can bementioned: Bachi, Raccà, Tedeschi, Cassuto, Artom,Toaff, Bonfiglioli, Ben Zimra, Nahon, Levi, Procaccia,Ottolenghi, Jarach, Cividalli, Servadio, Monselise,

by Sergio Della Pergola

Period N Definition

1919-1934 329 Italian citizens

1935-1943 1,358 Italian residents

1944-1948 (14 May) 779 Italian born

Total British Mandate 2,466

1948 (15 May)-1957 1,651 Italian residents

1958-1967 725 “1968-1977 2,022 “1978-1987 769 “1988-1997 699 “1998-2004 262 “Total State of Israel 6,128

Grand Total 8,594


Jerusalem – Museum of Italian Jewish Art.Restoring an Ancient Parokhet

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The Significant Presence ofthe Italian Jewish Community

Genazzani, Schreiber, De Angelis, Ravenna,Sermoneta, Muggia, Sonnino, and many others.Moreover, the foundations were laid of a communityimbued with Italian language and culture, but alsofirmly grounded in Jewish tradition. This group wouldgreatly facilitate the arrival and absorption ofsubsequent immigrants from Italy.

A second important immigration wave arrived

over the period immediately after World War II andIsrael’s Independence on May 15, 1948. Duringthose years of Spartan life, the contribution of Italianimmigrants to the Kibbutz movement was importantin its various ideological streams, ranging fromreligious to – at least during those years – morerigorously Marxist. Some central figures includedMalchiel Savaldi, Berti Eckert, Giorgio Piperno, EldadHadar (Melauri), and others.

The third period of more intensive immigrationfollowed the Six Day War of June 1967. After relieffollowing military tension and danger, a new directionemerged in the relationship between Israel and theJewish Diaspora. While Israel’s centrality rose in theideal perceptions of Jewish communities throughoutthe world, Israel’s rapid economic growth maderealization of such long-held ideals more accessibleand widespread.

In the course of more recent years the frequencyof Italian immigration has somewhat diminished, butthere has been significant growth in the volume andquality of cultural and social activities undertakenby the Italian Jewish community in Israel. Suchincreased activism and more prominent public imageis a sure symptom of the successful integration ofthe Italian community in the country and of its abilityto create a strong synthesis between the humanisticvalues of the countries of origin and adoption.

The Italian community is distributed all overIsraeli territory, although the most visible and betterorganized presence appears in Jerusalem and inthe metropolitan area of Greater Tel Aviv. The socialprofile of Italians in Israel primarily reflects thecharacteristics of Jews in Italy, namely a strongconcentration in the generally well-educated middleclasses of larger cities – especially Rome and Milan.Nonetheless, one notes a more than proportionalpresence of immigrants from medium size Italiancommunities characterized by a long Jewish traditionsuch as Florence, Leghorn, Trieste, Venice, Turin,Ferrara, and Padua. Immigration from the two majorItal ian Jewish communit ies has becomepreponderant over the last tens of years. A furtherphenomenon of cultural-religious interest concernsthe increased presence of Jewish neophytes amongthe more recent immigrants, often coming fromsmall Italian localities lacking an organised Jewishpresence. Moreover, a growing number of Israeliswho spent time in Italy for higher education orbusiness have married Italian spouses, some ofthem non-Jewish, who now live dispersed in manyIsraeli cities and villages.

Israeli society is quite heterogeneous and hashad to undergo socioeconomic hardships inherentin rapid demographic growth and repeated momentsof security tensions. In this context, the Italiancommunity surely belongs among the populationgroups that have asked the least help from publicauthorities, have been helpful to others, and havebeen able, more than other groups, to solve thetypical problems of immigrant absorption throughinternal solidarity and the individual resources ofcommunity members.

The community in Israel also fulfills a fundamentalrole as testimony and ambassador of the esthetic,cultural and historical Italian tradition in a countrythat maintains a relationship of instinctive friendshipwith Italy. Activities undertaken by the Associationof Italian Jews in Jerusalem, by the Organization ofItalian Immigrants (Irgun Olei Italia), by the AssociationDante Alighieri, besides the various branches of theIstituto Italiano di Cultura and the various Israeliuniversity departments, attract a wide, attentive,and assiduous audience. But perhaps the mostsignificant contribution of the Italian community tothe growth of Israeli society is its message that acreative synthesis is possible between Jewish andWestern ideals and values.

Visions of the Land


Sergio Della Pergola, Professor of JewishPopulation Studies, A. Harman Institute ofContemporary Jewry, The Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem

Jerusalem – Italian Synagogue. Restoring the 18th Century Benches

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The Story of FortyItalian Synagoguesby David Cassuto

With the exception of Babylonia(present-day Iraq), Italy has the longesthistory of Jewish settlement of anyDiaspora country. Jews have lived theresince the second century BCE. Thereare synagogues in Italy dating fromantiquity (in Ostia Antica and nearReggio Calabria), from the Middle Ages(Trani, Palermo, Syracuse, and Naples),from the Renaissance and Baroqueperiod, and from the modern age.

After the emancipation of ItalianJewry, or, if we prefer, the time of theunification of Italy, most of the tiny Jewishcommunities scattered throughout the“boot” moved to larger cities. Thesynagogues—most of them dating fromthe ghetto period—were abandoned,and the sound of prayer was no longerheard in them. On rare occasions,people chose to hold a bar mitzvahceremony or wedding in their city oforigin. Sometimes a group of Jewswould gather for the High Holidays orPassover and open an abandonedsynagogue. According to soldiers whoserved in the Austro-Hungarian Armyin World War I, Jews from units campednear various towns would look for thekey to the synagogue and often find itin the hands of the last Jewish womanliving there. Then they could open thesynagogue and pray in it until the armywithdrew and the synagogue againclosed its gates.

In Judaism, sacred objects thathave become old and have fallen intodisuse are supposed to be buried orput in a special storeroom, and othersare to be made in their stead. The sameis t rue of synagogues whosecommunities have left, never to return. Most of the synagoguessurvived World War II unscathed because they were in townswith no Jewish community and therefore did not becometargets for hostile activity. The ones that were destroyed werein the cities: Mantua, Padua, and Leghorn. In these threecases, however, they were damaged by bombings and notby targeted attacks.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, manysynagogues were demolished because they were consideredobsolete remnants of the past. “Jewish cathedrals” were builtinstead. This happened in most of the big cities: Rome,

Florence, Bologna, and Mantua—thelist goes on. Thus, by the middle of thetwentieth century, the synagoguesremaining in small towns, small cities,and remote neighborhoods had no oneto take care of them.

Then Dr. Umberto Nahon had anidea: to try to relocate the synagoguesthat had lost their flocks to a place wherethey and their sacred contents wereneeded. He decided to move them toIsrael, where there would be plenty ofdemand for them.

H e c o n t a c t e d t h e l o c a lgovernments, which regarded thepossibility of razing the ghetto area asa golden opportunity to revitalize a worn-out, obsolete part of the centre of town.Today’s highly developed awareness ofconservation of the old urban fabric andhistoric buildings did not exist back thenin the post–World War II era; manysynagogues and churches wereneglected and abandoned. The Italianeconomy was in bad shape, and ifanyone approached the official in chargeof monuments and offered to move asynagogue to the land of the Jews, theoffer was welcomed and consideredperfectly justifiable, since the city“profited” from it. Many letters from thosedays disparage the artistic value of thosesacred objects and approve theirremoval from the town by anyone whowanted them.

Meanwhile, Jewish communitiesfrom countless ethnic groups werearriving in Israel. Although few of themcame from the Italian Jewish tradition,other Mediterranean, central European

and North African communities all welcomed the opportunityto include some sacred item from Italy among their regeneratingtreasures.

These items, which included entire synagogues as wellas individual bimas and arks, were placed in varioussynagogues throughout Israel. Some of them were kept inthe U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem. Thefame of Italian Jewry thus spread throughout the country. TheItalian Jewish community is one of the smallest communitiesin Israel and was for decades almost unknown. (PresidentZalman Shazar once told me that when he saw an article onItalian Jewry in a Russian encyclopaedia, he was astonished


15

fig. 2

fig. 1

to discover that such a community existed; even the nameof the writer of the article, Umberto Cassuto, looked strangeto him. Only when he arrived in Palestine did he come toknow and appreciate the uniqueness of this community andits history.) Suddenly, the community experienced glory, if onlythanks to its artistically and historically impressive sacredobjects.

It should be noted that had the synagogues not beenbrought here after the war, most of them would presumablyhave been demolished, along with their contents, as occurredelsewhere. Some would have been turned into museums,concert halls, or lecture halls, and their liturgical function wouldhave been lost forever. Although it is true that such items losemuch of their charm and importance when removed fromtheir functional, historical, architectural, and urban context,given the alternative, perhaps even people of refined tastewould have chosen the present situation.

Among the first people who, in 1948, developed the ideaof bringing the synagogues to Israel were Rabbi Dr. S. Ascoli,Prof. S. Franco, and Alfonso Pacifici. The Italian Jewishcommunity in Jerusalem desperately needed a suitable houseof worship. The first person to take action in the matter wasFederico Luzzatto, who proposed bringing the abandonedsynagogue of Conegliano Veneto (figs. 1 and 2), built by hisancestors in 1701, to Jerusalem. He was one of the fewpeople to have had the privilege of praying in the synagoguein its original location, which he did, just by chance, as a child.

Dr. Angelo Fano, a native of Venice, together with theJewish art expert Mordechai Narkiss, persuaded the Venicecity council and the chief rabbi of the city, Elio Toaff—whotogether had authority in the matter—to relocate the propertyto Jerusalem. The Venice municipality issued a letter statingthat it saw no artistic value in the synagogue furnishings andthat there was no reason not to move the synagogue toJerusalem. The city council made this decision after realizingthat there was not a single Jew left in the town, and theywould not be accused of anti-Semitism if the synagogue weredismantled. Three years later, the wooden parts arrived inJerusalem. The synagogue was erected on 27 Hillel Street inJerusalem, inside a late-nineteenth-century building beingused by the Israeli Education Authority as a school. Previouslyit had been the Schmidt Girls’ School, a German missionarybuilding abandoned during World War II when its principalsand teachers were deported by the British Mandatoryauthorities. The synagogue was put into the old college chapel,whose dimensions were surprisingly similar to those of theoriginal synagogue. There was not enough money availableto restore the synagogue interior to its previous state, however,and it took another forty years before it regained its originalsplendor. The dedication of the synagogue drew a largecrowd, and Rabbi Aharon Dishon, who had led Jewish soldiersin the Austrian army in the last prayer service in the synagogueat its original site (1918), took part. In 1991, the synagoguewas rededicated with a women’s gallery, as it was in ConeglianoVeneto. To this day it serves the Italian Jewish community inIsrael (figs. 3 and 4).

The synagogue is typical of Baroque synagogues in theVeneto region. It has an ornate ark decorated in rich Baroquestyle; a women’s gallery lining the interior on three sides (allbut the side with the ark); an ornate, carved bima made ofwalnut wood; and cherry wood paneling all around the room.Pews from Reggio, in the Emilia region, were added to theoriginal pews from Conegliano, which stood along the walls

and between the bima and the ark, because the congregationin Jerusalem was much larger than the one in Conegliano.

No niche could be created in the western wall to holdthe bima, because the women’s gallery was too low; the bimawas therefore placed in the middle of the room instead. Itshould be noted that in Conegliano, too, when the synagoguewas first built, the bima was in the middle of the room, undera skylight. Thus, we restored the synagogue to its originalform. The pews and ark are older than the synagogue; theywere made in the mid-seventeenth century and apparentlybelonged to a synagogue that predated this one.

About a year later, the Conegliano synagogue’s twin—the synagogue of Vittorio Veneto (Ceneda)—was moved tothe Israel Museum on condition that, despite its location, itwould continue to be used for prayer (fig. 5).

Construction of this synagogue began in 1701. It closelyresembles the Conegliano synagogue, the main differencebeing that a space precisely the size of the original area wasprepared for it in the Israel Museum, and so the reconstructionis absolutely identical to the original. In Vittorio Veneto, thewomen’s gallery lined the entire room; therefore the ark waslower than that in Conegliano. The bima fitted into the nicheunder the women’s gallery, creating a bipolar layout with twosets of pews facing the line from the bima to the ark.

Looking at the room, we can see that it is more organized


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fig. 3

fig. 4

and better planned from start to finish than the more“temperamental” one from Conegliano, the design lookssomewhat improvised. The interior of the Vittorio Venetosynagogue is covered with painted wallpaper, whereas thewalls of the Conegliano synagogue have stucco andinscriptions. The paneling and pews also seem newer thanthose from Conegliano. All this reinforces the assumption thatthe decoration and furniture in the Conegliano synagogueoriginally came from an older synagogue and were moved to

the synagogue on the Via del Siletto in the early eighteenthcentury. Another impressive ark (from 1682), this one fromthe Scuola Grande in Padua (fig. 6), is now in the centralsynagogue in the Yad Eliyahu area of Tel Aviv. Although similarin design to the one from Conegliano, it is made of differentmaterials. Instead of wood, this ark is made of multicoloredmarble, and has four black marble pillars, two on each side.The two central pillars frame the doors of the ark on the northand south, whereas the two end pillars bracket a side panelthat gradually slants toward the synagogue wall. The ark andpillars rest on a pedestal. Above the pillars is a cornice undera tympanum made of very pale, flowered marble. In the centerof the tympanum are the tablets of the Ten Commandmentsin black marble, with the first words of each commandment.

The Scuola Grande was demolished in World War II. Afterthe war, the ark was “suspended” from a new, lower, temporary

ceil ing (f ig. 7) and wasexposed to the sun and wind.Due to the poor conditions,the decision was made tomove it to the synagogue inYad Eliyahu. The Baroquebima (fig. 8) was taken to thesame place at the same time(1956), and the two residethere in a place of honor tothis day.

Another ark brought overfrom Padua, this one datingfrom 1729, came from theSephardic synagogue (fig. 9).The synagogue had alreadybeen completely abandonedby the early nineteenthcentury. The paint on theceiling was peeling, the ceilingitself had become structurally weak, and the frescoes on thewalls had faded. Only the ark and the bima retained theiroriginal beauty (fig. 10). These were taken to the Renanimsynagogue in Heikhal Shlomo in Jerusalem. In its outline andcolors, the Sephardic synagogue of Padua strongly resemblesthe Scuola Grande, except that it is made of wood and, as Imentioned, dates from 1729.

In Padua, the bima was next to the western wall and wasseven steps above the floor. Here, in Renanim, it was put in

the center of the room and lower than it was originally. Thebipolar layout was not retained, but the two sacred objectslend grandeur to the beautiful synagogue.

Several arks came from Mantua. The first of them wasno longer in Mantua before being brought to Israel; it hadbeen taken first to the town of Sermide and then, duringWorld War II, to Bologna. It was dismantled, and the peoplein Bologna—who had no interest in it—chose to send it toIsrael. The ark from Sermide, built in 1543, is the oldest datedark in Israel. It consists of a central ark with Renaissancefeatures and a chair on either side, together forming a tripartitebasilica façade: two arched “entrances” (the chairs) on thesides and a central “entrance,” i.e. the ark, in the middle. Thetwo chairs are typical of the thrones of kings and noblemenduring the Renaissance; they were apparently used by therabbi and the head of the congregation. The ornamentationof the two chairs may predate the ornamentation of the ark;

fig. 6 fig. 7 fig. 9 fig. 10

fig. 5


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fig. 8

perhaps a Jewish merchant who dealtin old furniture brought the chairs froma wealthy person’s home to thesynagogue, and the ark was then craftedto join them along the wall facing Zion.The inscriptions on this ark areinteresting. On the inside of its doors isa poetic paraphrase of the TenCommandments, and dedications areinscribed on the chairs. The ark iscurrently in the U. Nahon Museum ofItal ian Jewish Art in Jerusalem.

Another ark from Mantua currentlyoccupies a place of honor in the mainstudy hall of the Ponevezh yeshiva. Thismay be the most impressive ark broughtover from Italy (fig. 11).

It consists of a central section withtwo serpentine columns on each side;on top of the columns is a huge seashell-shaped object containing a monumentalTorah crown. Here, too, on both sidesof the ark are two breathtakingly beautifulchairs specifying the date of the ark(1751) and its story. The cornice above

the columns also goes over the chairs.Before World War II, the ark stood in thelobby of the great synagogue of Mantua.During the war it was put in a storeroomand was thus spared when thesynagogue was bombed.

A small but impressive ark (fig. 12)was brought to Israel from the town ofSoragna (before then it had been in thecorridor of the modern synagogue ofSoragna since 1856). The ark isapparently from the old synagogue; itsdesign suggests a sixteenth-centuryorigin. It is now in the Knesset (the Israeliparliament). Recently, the Knessetallocated a considerable sum of moneyto restore it. The interior of the Knessetsynagogue has a simple design, as doesthe ark, but their noble simplicity makesthem worthy of residing among theelected leaders of Israel.

The ark from the Ital ian-ritesynagogue in Pesaro (fig. 13) has anextremely simple design. It appears tobe a lintel taken from one of thesynagogue doorways when the buildingwas dismantled and adapted to its newfunction in Israel. Its doors are from theark of that synagogue. It served as anark in the Or Etzion yeshiva in the South,but when those in charge of the welfareof sacred objects from Italy realized thatit was not being maintained properly, itwas removed, with the consent of theyeshiva, treated at the RestorationInstitute of the Museum of Italian JewishArt, and placed in the new JerusalemCity Hall building, where it serves theseven thousand municipal officials. Itdates from 1700, and even though it isan assemblage of unrelated parts, itsoverall design is definitely convincing.The inside of the doors is painted in adistinctive manner and has a uniqueinscription. The decoration is typical ofthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuriesand is reminiscent of textiles from thatperiod. The outside of the doors is alsopainted in a manner reminiscent ofintarsia. Thus, a highly unusual item wascreated.

The Leghorn ark from the latesixteenth century

The old synagogue of Leghorn wasdestroyed in World War II, but its twoarks miraculously survived. They weredismantled and put in the communitystorerooms. Later, the larger of the twowas restored and put in the MariniYeshiva in Leghorn. The other one wastaken to Israel and placed in the EliyahuHanavi synagogue, part of a complex

of four Sephardic synagogues in the OldCity of Jerusalem (fig. 13). Thissynagogue had suffered severe damagein the War of Independence and hadthen been turned into a sheep pen beforereturning to Jewish hands in 1967. Itwas then restored, but its contents haddisappeared. During the restoration, itwas decided that the ark would bebrought here from Leghorn.

According to a legend that waswidespread in Leghorn, this ark hadbeen brought there by exiles from Spainin the late fifteenth century; however, itsstyle and contents are typical of the endof the Italian Renaissance. It should benoted that the dome with the shinglesis typical of Levantine synagogues inItaly and is reminiscent of the cathedraldome of Santa Maria del Fiore inFlorence. This reinforces the assumptionthat it belonged to Jews from the Levant,who formed the first Jewish communityin Leghorn.

In conclusion, I must briefly mentionthe other forty arks that were broughtover from Italy after the war. They are allunder the authority of the Museum ofItalian Jewish Art, and are part of thehuge mosaic of cultures that have pouredinto Israel since the establishment of theState.

fig. 11


18

fig. 12

David M. Cassuto, Dean ofFaculty of Architecture, ArielCollege, President of theItalian Jewish Community inJerusalem

fig. 13

Present Day

Tel Aviv – The Italian Week in the Azrieli Towers

The Italian language is extremelypopular all over the world. A surveycarried out by the La SapienzaUniversity of Rome on behalf of theItalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasrevealed a surprising fact: Italian isamongst the most widely studiedlanguages in the world. Since the1990s, students attending thelanguage courses organized by theItalian Cultural Institutes (there are 93such institutions operating world-wide)have increased steadily. Israelis, inparticular, are fascinated by the Italianlanguage. An ever-increasing numberof students enrol on our language courses in the ItalianCultural Institute in Tel Aviv and Haifa. It is not easy to keepup with the constant demand of new Italian languagecourses. And yet we have managed to offer languagecourses in all the major Israeli localities: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem,Haifa, Nazareth, Acre, and Beersheva. However, we arenot alone in promoting Italian in Israel: there are three culturalcentres – located in Jerusalem, Haifa and Nazareth – whichare part of a prestigious cultural network: the Society DanteAlighieri, which has its headquarters in Rome. The Nazarethcentre of the Dante Alighieri proves that all communitiesliving in Israel are keen on getting acquainted with Italiansand their culture.

The Italian Government, being aware of this amazinginterest for the Italian language, has decided to sponsorthree Italian lecturers who deliver all kinds of courses (fromelementary to advanced) at three important academicinstitutions: the Tel Aviv University, the Haifa University, andthe Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

Why are foreigners under the spell of the Italianlanguage? The survey mentioned above, which wassupervised by the famous linguist Tullio De Mauro, hasrevealed another interesting fact: up until the end of the1970s, the vast majority of foreigners were motivated bycultural reasons. They felt an overwhelming attraction forour cultural tradition: literature, art, music. Undoubtedly,Italians lead the way in these fields of intellectual endeavour.But from the 1980s onwards new motivations have arisen:although our artistic and literary heritage remains spellbinding,foreigners have come to realise that Italian contemporarylife deserves attention in its own right. Most people knowthat our impressive heritage is not an archaic heirloom thathas little bearing on present concerns; rather, it is still very

much alive in contemporary Italianlife. Our traditional artistic creativityhas been successfully applied toi n d u s t r i a l d e s i g n . I t a l i a nentrepreneurship stimulates newsbusinesses and companies in sectorscharacterized by artistic inventiveness:fashion, footwear, furniture, interiordesign (tiles, marble, decorations etc.).Italy is still perceived as the cradle ofthe classical civilization and of theRena issance. And yet , ourcontemporary achievements areimpressive, too: not only does Italyhave a thriving economy, it may also

boost significant technological and scientific advances.The interests of the Israeli public are in keeping with

the trends we have just discussed. Israelis study the Italianlanguage for a number of reasons. Many are eager to enrichtheir cultural background. For this sector of the population,traditional motivations are still compelling: the sounds ofthe Italian language are pleasant to hear because they havea musical quality; Italians, moreover, are extremely popularin Israel (and Israelis, too, are well-liked by Italians): theItalian way of life and our concern for beauty and eleganceare admired everywhere. Italy and Israel, moreover, areclose not only geographically but also in cultural terms.Israelis belong to the Mediterranean civilization, to whichthey have contributed significantly. And Italy too has alwaysplayed a very important role in the Mediterranean area:Italy has been the meeting point for religious and culturalexchanges since antiquity. One example will suffice: Romeis not only the see of the Roman Catholic Church: it is alsothe home of the most ancient Jewish community of theDiaspora.

In recent years, Israelis have become even moresophisticated and demanding. Some Israelis enrol in Italianlanguage courses because they love Italian cuisine – which,as a matter of fact, is one of the most diverse and creativein the world. Nowadays culture has a wider meaning thatin the past. This is why the Italian Cultural Institute in TelAviv and Haifa has devised a whole new range of courses:Italian language and cuisine, Italian language and winetasting, Italian for tourists visiting Italy, etc. Other Israelis aremore pragmatic, but equally determined to acquire a goodcommand of our language: an increasing number of studentswould like to obtain an Italian degree. Italian universities, infact, have an excellent academic reputation world-wide.

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The Love for Italian Language

by Edoardo Crisafulli

Thousands of Israeli professionals (architects, medicaldoctors, lawyers, veterinaries) hold higher degrees fromItalian univesities. Incidentally, this explains the success ofAmitei Italia, a new initiative launched by the Italian Embassy,under the auspices of the new Director, Dr. Simonetta DellaSeta. Amitei Italia is an association of Israelis who studiedat Italian universities or colleges of higher education.

A number of Israelis study for specific examinationsbecause they want to receive a certificate of proficiency inItalian. These examinations are administered by theUniversities for Foreigners (Università per Stranieri) of Sienaand Perugia, both of which have signed an agreement withthe Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Morerecently, a new public of mature students has come to the fore:highly-educated and highly-skilled mature students choose tostudy Italian for professional reasons.

This is unsurprising: commercial ties between Italy andIsrael are excellent; many Israeli companies import a varietyof goods from Italy. With these new students in mind, we havedevised a new course in business and commercial Italian. Itis a well-known fact that if one has a basic command of thelanguage spoken by his or her commercial counterpart, oneis always one step ahead of the competition.

Linguistic competence carries a considerable weightin all kinds of negotiations and dealings, both commercialand cultural. And it certainly helps to strengthen the tiesbetween different peoples.

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Edoardo Crisafulli, Cultural Attaché, ItalianCultural Institute of Haifa

The Italian Pavillon at the Jerusalem international Book Fair 2005

by Lucio Izzo

The LiteraryEmbrace

The warm interest inItaly and the Italian languagethroughout Israel in recentyears is demonstrated bythe constantly growingnumber of Italian languagecourses and students at alllevels. This interest is alsoshared by those who, nothav ing the t ime andopportunity to study ordeepen their knowledge ofour language, wish toapproach our l i t e ra ryheritage, which is lessfamous in Israel than ourfine arts, cinema and musictraditions.

T h e r e f o r e I t a l i a ninstitutions, primarily theMinistry of Foreign Affairsand the Ministry for CulturalHeritage, have devoted aspecial effort in promotingprogrammes aimed at supporting the circulation of Italianbooks in Israel. Such a policy has resulted in about ahundred and twenty Italian books translated into Hebrewand currently available to the public, compared with thevery small number of titles available up to the last decade.The publishers’ choices range mainly from the earlyTwentieth Century to contemporary literature, with theexception of classics such as Dante’s Divina Commedia,Boccaccio’s Decameron and Petrarca’s Canzoniere. TheNineteenth Century is also represented by the Hebrewversions of two classic novels for children, Collodi’sPinocchio and De Amicis’ Cuore, and with Leopardi’sProse. Such a preference for the philosophical ratherthan the poetical works of the great author from Recanatiis not surprising. In fact the few translated TwentiethCentury essays all belong to the historical philosophicalprose, such as Benedetto Croce’s Breviario di esteticaand Storia d’Europa nel secolo decimonono and Gramsci’sQuaderni dal carcere. On the other hand, among UmbertoEco’s works, only the three novels and Il secondo diario

m i n i m o h a v e b e e npublished.

Twent ie th Centurynovels take the lion’s sharewith Moravia and Morante(among the most translatedauthors with five bookse a c h ) , B a s s a n i a n dMalaparte, Buzzati andGadda, Silone and Camilleriup to Tabucchi (also one ofthe most translated) andBaricco, without forgettingAmmaniti and Maurensig,Fallaci and Di Lascia, andfinally, the Israeli public'smost recent love, Erri DeLuca, who was welcomedlike a real star during hisvisits to the country. PrimoLevi and Natalia Ginsburgare also favourite writers,according to the number ofbooks sold and translated

(six for each author). The most translated writer, ItaloCalvino, with ten books published in Hebrew shows theinterest that Calvino enjoys all over the world even today,an interest which does not seem to be weakened by thepassing of time and testifies to the writer’s universalqualities.

Finally, Italian theatre reveals its presence in Israelespecially thanks to Pirandello, whose dramas, in particularSei personaggi in cerca d’autore and Così è se vi pare,are performed in translation. Eduardo De Filippo is theother great playwright popular with the local public. Hisdramas are staged in Hebrew, but they are sti l lunpublished.

What are the reasons for such a preference towardsTwentieth Century Italian literature? The psychologicalproximity to the readers is undoubtedly one of the reasons,since the dramatic force of the historical events in Italyduring the last century can be easily understood andappreciated by the people of Israel, on whom that century

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22

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Mosaic by Enzo Cucchi (detail)

Vis

ions

of

the

Land

left dramatic and deep scars. On the other hand, therediscovery of great classics (as proven by new editionsof Decameron and Divina Commedia) shows a newlonging for universality, for an understanding of historybeyond the limitations of time, allowing for a betterunderstanding of the present and the possibility of planningthe future. The challenge already launched by the Italiancultural institutions in promoting the translation of Italianliterature has given excellent results; the number oftranslated books has increased by about 36% in the lastfew years. Israeli writers are welcomed in Italy in thesame warm way, Italians showing a considerable interestfor a young literature, which nevertheless expresses theimportance of a cultural tradition. Hebrew language cameto be used again in daily life, and not just for liturgy,towards the end of the Nineteenth Century thanks toEliezer Ben Yehuda’s commitment. The masterpieces ithas produced in less than a century are numerous.

It is quite easy to identify among them more thantwo hundred translated books, including the works ofthe great poet Bialik as well as the writers the Italianpublic considers the essence of modern Israel: AmosOz, Meir Shalev and above all David Grossman and A.B.Yehoshua. Their popularity is proven by more than twenty-five translations of Grossman’s and Yehoshua’s books

and by their frequent articles in Italian newspapers. Thereasons for this preference are clear: these writers areable to describe the complex reality of a unique countryand, at the same time, to create a universal literature ofemotions and thoughts with the expressive force whichbelongs only to great literatures.

The literary embrace between the two countries isbecoming more and more intense, as also demonstratedby the success of the Italian Pavilion at the JerusalemInternational Book Fair in 2005, which was the setting of many crowded debates and presentations by importantItalian and Israeli writers.

Such a trend is also witnessed by a short butimpressive anthology of Italian contemporary poetry,authored by Franco Buffoni under the patronage of theMinistry for Cultural Heritage, translated both into Hebrewand Arabic, and published with parallel texts in twodifferent volumes.

Also important is the translation into Hebrew of asignificant book, Towards Jerusalem, by Cardinal CarloMaria Martini. These two steps have also been perceivedas a message of friendship and intercultural dialogue.

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Lucio Izzo, Cultural Attaché, ItalianCultural Institute of Tel Aviv

Master Decorators from Noto (Sicily) Making a Flower Carpet in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

A Dynamic EconomicExchange

A cont inual strengthening of industr ia l andtechnological cooperation between Italy and Israel hastaken place in recent years, parallel to a steady growthin commercial contacts between the two countries.The pos i t ive atmosphere and complementarycharacteristics of Italy and Israel are also reflected intheir improving economic relations.

A key factor is geographical and cultural proximity,turning Italy into a natural bridge for Israel to theEuropean market, a vital link for Israel's economy.

The two economies share a tendency towardsinnovation and flexibility, empowered by the prevalenceof small and medium-sized companies, as well as theexcellent image of Italian design and Israeli technology.

It is important to note that access to the Israeli

market and strategic col laborat ion with Israel icompanies are being increasingly considered by Italiancompanies and by the Italian Government to be awinning formula.

In accordance with this policy, on January 1st 2005,the new Italian Business Desk was inaugurated inthe Embassy premises, uniting the Commercial andScientific Offices of the Embassy, the Italian TradeCommission and the Israel-Italy Chamber of Commerceand Industry.

The Desk is a un i f ied reference point forbusinessmen and entrepreneurs from both countriesinterested in the development of bilateral relations.

In addition, a very intense series of official visitstook place over the last few years, and had both

by Alessandro Cattaneo and Mauro Poli

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0.0% artworks &antique-trade

0.1% other products

5.7% handicrafts articles

2.8% optical, photographic,medical & measurement

appliances & instruments, etc.

6.3% cars, planes, ships& related equipment

32.4% machinery &electrical equipment

8.3% basic metals

2.9% preciousstones, trinkets, etc.

4.2% stone articles, cement,ceramics & glass

0.6% shoes, hats, umbrellas,artificial flowers, etc.

5.9% textiles & clothing

2.5% paper, cardboards & by-products

2.1% wood, charcoal, cork, etc.

0.7% skins, leathers, etc.

7.0% plastic & rubber

11.9% chemical products

1.3% minerals

4.1% tobacco, drinks& food products

0.0% fats & animal orvegetable oils

1.2% vegetableproducts

0.1% animals &animal products

Israeli imports from Italy accounted for $1,572 millions in 2004.

political and economic content. These visits, oftenpromoted by the Embassy in accordance with the otherItalian institutions in Israel, had a significant impact onbilateral economic cooperation, by bringing hundredsof Italian companies and research centres to Israel.

The results were not slow to follow. In 2004, thetotal sum of the interaction between Italy and Israelreached $2.35 billion (without diamonds). Italy exportedgoods for a value of $1.572 billion, an increase of12.45% from the previous year.

In 2004 statistics confirmed our country's positionas the 3rd biggest exporter to Israel (after the US andGermany) and the 6th biggest importer, after US,Germany, UK, the Nethe r l ands and Turkey.

Our share of the market was 4.93%, while themost important sectors of our exports remainedmachinery and electrical equipment, chemical andplastic products, textiles, jewelry, handicraft articlesand raw metals.

The assistance and incentives provided by theItalian Business Desk cover all these fields, includingthe services sector. Opportunities for the banking andfinancial groups could, for instance, result from thereforms being implemented in the Israeli financialmarket. The tourism industry seems to be of particularinterest as well: Italy is in fact a preferred destination

for Israeli tourists, which are estimated to account forat least 300.000 visitors per year, with 800.000 daysof hotel reservations. Direct Italian investments in Israelare particularly significant in their industrial vision andtheir strategic impact. The insurance sector can bementioned in this context, where Assicurazioni Generaliowns the control share (63.8%) of Migdal.

A field in which the industrial and technologicalcooperation between the two countries seems to beparticularly significant is that of telecommunications.Telecom Italia achieved, through the Mednautilusconsortium with Israeli partners, an extraordinaryunderwater 7000 km optical f ibers cable whichconnects Catania, Crete, Athens, Istanbul and Haifa,with a possible extension to Alexandria in Egypt. Cyprusis also connected to Israel and to Italy through anothercable (Lev) owned by Telecom Italia. It can be said thatan important part of the communications betweenIsrael and the rest of the world are via I ta l ianinfrastructure and technology. In addition, TelecomItalia has an important share in the capital of the Israeliinternational telephone operator 012 Golden Lines.

We would also like to mention another fine exampleof Ital ian entrepreneurship in Israel. In 2001, inYerucham in the Negev desert, the Italian-Israeli jointventure Cunial Antonio Israel launched the productionof roofing t i les (the co-owner is Industrie CottoPossagno of Possagno, Treviso). The factory, usingentirely Italian technology, can produce up to 20 millionstiles per year.

Many other large Italian firms are implementingprojects with advanced technological content incollaboration with Israeli partners, such as Finmeccanicaand FIAT Research Centre.

Consequent ly, a l l condi t ions for a fur therstrengthening of the special technological and industrialrelationship between Italy and Israel are present.

According to the vision of the Italian Government,this will also benefit the overall economic stability ofthe Middle-Eastern region.

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Haifa – Bell of Stella Maris Built in Agnone (Italy)

Alessandro Cattaneo, First Secretary,Economic and Commercial Affairs,The Embassyof Italy in Israel and Mauro Poli, TradePromotion Attaché

by Ronni Benatoff

The Israeli economy has strong traditional links with theUS. For many years, interaction with the Italian economyhas been limited both in scope and size.

Israel has always seen the United States as its mainpotential business partner. Whereas Europe, and Italy inparticular, were conceptually perceived as very interestingplaces, with a history and strong traditions in many fields,but primarily attractive for tourism, cultural relationships andas manufacturers of very high level products: mainly fashion,furniture and general luxury goods.

Over the last few years, this situation has dramaticallychanged, though in my view, not sufficiently.

Europe is becoming increasingly important in the eyesof the Israeli business community. The average Israeli isquickly learning that doing business in Europe is very differentand more complicated than in the US and that he oftenlacks the necessary understanding and tools needed to besuccessful.

Many Israelis have found difficulty expanding theircommercial relationships in Europe and that, even if they

are successful in one country, it is often difficult to repeattheir success in other countries, mainly due to the differentlanguages and the very diverse habits and customs.

For these businessmen, Italy represents a very importantopportunity. Italians are probably the Europeans with whomIsraelis find a better understanding and a better capabilityof working together. A strong relationship with an Italianpartner can often facilitate penetration of European markets.

Several Israeli companies have made investments inItaly over the last few years and most have proven verysuccessful, often becoming the European platform for thesecompanies.

Furthermore, I believe that in many areas, Italians andIsraelis are complementary, especially in sectors where theintroduction of innovative technologies is important. Thisdoes not mean only in high tech sectors such astelecommunications and software. Innovation and researchare vital in many fields nowadays as, for example, theenvironmental and machinery sectors.

Israel is recognised worldwide as one of the most

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The New Attraction of IsraeliBusinesses to the Italian Market

Tel Aviv – The Italian Week in the Azrieli Towers

important sources of new technologies in many areas. Therecent publication, by the well-known magazine RedHerring,of the "One hundred most promising high techcompanies in Europe and Israel," lists no less than twentyIsraeli companies. Less than 1% of the population produced20% of the most promising technological companies! Itshould be noted, however, that Israeli companies, afterhaving developed innovative technologies, often failed inthe phase of bringing these technologies to the market.Development of the product and the applications from aspecific technology are crucial steps, and technology is notthe only skill needed to succeed in this phase. Italians haveproven to be extremely capable in understanding the market,its needs and the best approach to market strategy andcan therefore be perfectly complementary when partneringIsraeli companies.

A very interesting opportunity offered by the Italiancentral and regional authorities is the establishment of abase in one of the many Technological Districts which areestablished in areas where there are research centres andseveral important business players in the field. These diverseareas include, for example, Nanotech, Biotech, Telecom,Mechatronics and many more.

The District can assist the company that wants to createa base in various ways, such as clearing bureaucraticformalities, looking for local partners, and makingintroductions to potential customers and other relevant

groups. Furthermore, every District has created specialfinancial tools (often in the form of VC) that invest in the newlocal company and assist in its financial structure.

Just to give you an example, imagine an Israeli companywhich has patented a technology for welding metals withhigher efficiency and lower costs than presently available.This technology could most probably have applications inthe automotive industry and these applications need to bedeveloped. The Israeli company could approach one of theDistricts, be introduced to potential partners that are alreadyactive in producing and selling parts to Italian and otherEuropean major car makers, be assisted in creating a jointventure company and receive financing for developing theapplications and penetrating the market.

I believe that the opportunities described above areconvincing enough by themselves. But if you also add anenvironment that is extremely friendly to Israel, the effortsmade by the Italian Government to increase cooperationwith Israel, geographical proximity and all the other well-known benefits which Italy can offer, I am sure that Israelicompanies will, before long, be substantially increasing theirpresence in Italy.

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Ronni Benatoff, President of the Italian-IsraeliChamber of Commerce and Industry

The most characterising aspect of our product in the agricultural market is the supply of turn-key bovine breeding plants, with specially designed and oftenpatented equipment, aimed at ensuring maximum efficiency in the management of the livestock, and therefore allowing the best economic results for thebreeder and for the health of the animals.

This is possible because we cover all phases of the production, starting from the initial design, up to the building of the equipment and the mounting of thestructures, till the after-sale service.

Included in the production are galvanized prefabricated structures, prefabricated free-stalls with "Mouflex" mattresses for the cows to rest, rigid-bars andcable scrapers for cleaning, feeding self-lockers.

Liquitech srl, a company of the Cremonesi Group, is involved in manure treatment systems, making plans for such installations, with Eisele submergible mixersand pumps, umbilical systems to spread the manure in the fields and separators for manure.

Last, but not least, Liquitech realizes biogas producing plants, using manure from livestock and bio-mass from agricultural products. The above describedproducts are available also for the Israeli market through Cremonesi Israel Ltd, headed by Mr. Hofer Har-Gil.

Cremonesi Israel Ltd., previously an agency and now part of the Cremonesi Group, for over 5 years has supplied Kibbutzim and Moshavim with milk-cowsfree-stalls which are the first of their kind in Israel and which have given significant results in the management of the stalls .

Important plants for the production of biogas are currently being designed for kibbutzim and Government Agencies.

Cremonesi Israel LTD is located in Kfar – Ogla, D.N. Effer 38880, tel +972 54 675978, fax +972 4 6365543

“Brevetti Francesco Cremonesi S.p.A.” has been, for more than 50years, a constant reference point in the Italian and European market

for technological innovation in the milk cows breeding.

by Massimo Caputi

Italy is taking considerable interest in Tel Aviv today. A countryconstantly on the lookout for investment opportunities beyondits own borders and with expertise in high technology sectors,Israel is an inevitable target for Italy. It is not by chance that therecent decree on Italian competitiveness places exactly thesetwo points at the centre of Government action: the re-launchof foreign direct investment in Italy, and support for R&D withsome 1.8 billion Euro of funding.

For too many years Italy has lacked a real and encompassingpolicy in support of foreign investment. While other countries,looking down on us today in the direct investment stakes, werecreating dedicated promotion agencies, we continued to putour trust in the generosity of investors.

While Israel invests some 6 billion Euro abroad annually,only a tiny part of that reaches Italy. It is not, however, impossibleto reverse that trend.

Italy has already undertaken important reforms in this respectmaking the labor market more flexible, the tax regime morefavorable, and company establishment and management moretransparent and more flexible.

Furthermore, today thanks to the efforts of Sviluppo Italia,the National Agency for Enterprise and Inward InvestmentDevelopment, and the ICE, the Italian Trade Commission,foreign companies finally have a single port of call for investingor developing their business interests in Italy, just as in othercountries. InvestInItaly, the national organization for foreigninvestment promotion in Italy, was created in July 2004. It offersinvestors a series of free professional services to assist themin every phase of the process of localization: from preliminary

reporting to identifying concrete local opportunities, support inthe start-up phase, and assistance in dealing with PublicAdministration.

In particular, Sviluppo Italia manages the Location Agreement,a tool which cuts back on all the bureaucratic and administrativeprocedures, and guarantees investors the availability ofinfrastructure, fixed times, training support, and the dispersalof financial incentives.

This instrument is used in all sectors including such innovativeones as ICT or the Life Sciences where Italy can convincinglyoffer a number of significant localized advantages.

In the Life Sciences, Italy boasts internationally prestigiousresearch centers with a long tradition of applied medical research(Cardiovascular Diseases, Oncology, and Immunology) furtherstanding out for its high productivity. The cost of highly qualifiedstaff and researchers is much lower than amang our internationalcompetitors.

The most exciting opportunities in particular concernBiotechnology for Healthcare and Clinical Trials where the costsare indeed competitive.

Life Sciences, however, is but one example. Quality at anadvantageous cost, a strong focus on technological innovation,in a neighboring and friendly country – these are the attractionsthat Italy offers Israeli entrepreneurs today.

InvestInItaly, a New ReferencePoint for Israeli Investors

A large and sophisticated domestic marketTogether with France and the UK, Italy is the second largest consumermarket in Europe with about 60million inhabitants and one of the eightleading world economies with an estimated GDP of more than 1,000billion Euro.Ranking second worldwide as for mobile phone subscriptions and thirdin Europe as for number of Internet users, Italy has a domestic marketthat is always extremely receptive to new products and services.

A gateway to Mediterranean and emerging marketsLying at the heart of the Mediterranean, Italy is the main thoroughfarelinking southern Europe to northern and central Europe by land, sea andair. Thanks to its strategic location, Italy sits at the center of an internationalmarket reaching out to a further 396 million consumers in other EUcountries, 240 million in North Africa and the Middle East as well as theemerging markets in Eastern Europe.

Skilled and creative workforce at competitive costsWith a double-digit growth and almost 250,000 highly qualified universitygraduates a year, Italy provides investors with qualified and highlyproductive staff at affordable costs.According to the “Competitive Alternatives” study by KPMG, the costsof setting up an R&D center in Italy’s Biotecnology sector – comprisinglabor costs, public utilities and services, infrastructures and taxes – areextremely competitive with savings from 15% up to 50% in comparisonwith the UK, the USA, France and Germany for qualified personnel.

Market-oriented researchItaly has over 200 institutional R&D centers and a widespread presenceof privately owned research centers, each providing technology transferservices, competitive costs and high levels of interaction between localbusinesses, universities and governmental bodies. Tapping into humantalent and benefitting from local know-how Italian science and technologicalparks are an ideal location solution to quickly turn ideas into innovativeand successful products for the market.

A reformed business environmentForeign investors can now benefit from three main recent reforms thatnow make it easier and more convenient to invest in Italy. The newlegislation offers businesses a more favourable tax system, a flexiblelabor market and a new corporate law that stands out among the mostadvanced in Europe.

Financial tools to support your business ventureItaly has high levels of financial incentives available for foreign investors(capital investment grants, R&D subsidies, training programmes).The new so-called Location Agreement guarantees investors, not onlythe disbursement of incentives, but also the availability of infrastructure,industrial areas, implementation timeframe and support for R&D andtraining activities.

I t a l y : t h e q u a l i t y s o l u t i o n t o c o r p o r a t e c h a l l e n g e s

For more information: [email protected] www.investinitaly.com

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MASSIMO CAPUTI, CEO of Sviluppo Italia, theNational Agency for Enterprise and InwardInvestment Development

by Guglielmo Castro

Scientists of the two countries havebeen cooperating since the creation ofthe State of Israel. Direct contacts wereeasily established, thanks to severalItalian Scientists of Jewish origin whomoved from Italy to Israel, includingthe economist and statistician Prof.Riccardo Bachi, and Prof. GiulioRaccah, who greatly contributed to thedevelopment of the field of physics inIsrael.

Italy's long tradition in science,established by its several Nobel PrizesIn Physics (G. Marconi, E. Fermi, E.Segrè, C. Rubbia, R. Giacconi), inChemistry (G. Natta) and in Medicine(C. Golgi, D. Bovet, S. E. Luria, R.Dulbecco, R. Levi Montalcini) and theinternational reputation gained by Israelas a pioneering country of scientificactivit ies, also confirmed by theattribution, in 2004, of the Nobel Prizein Chemistry to Prof. A. Ciechanoverand Prof. A. Hershko, made thedevelopment of scientific relationsbetween the two countries a naturalconsequence.

Such relations were developedm a i n l y t h r o u g h c o o p e r a t i o nAgreements, signed between Universities and otherinstitutions of the two countries: exchanges of professorsand students, visiting scientists, and joint research projects.It is worthwhile mentioning the cooperation between theIstituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri of Milanand the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot: theComitato Negri-Weizmann was created in Milan, fifteenyears ago; five joint research projects are presentlydeveloping. It is a tradition to organize a special concertMusica e Ricerca insieme per la Salute, every year at theTeatro alla Scala, to support this cooperation. The concertshave seen the participation of many famous conductors,among them Riccardo Muti. A Conference Negri-Weizmann, supported by the Embassy of Italy in Israel,is p lanned to be held next fa l l , in Rehovot.

The first formal Agreement on scientific cooperation,between the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technologyand the National Research Council of Italy, was signedin 1990. Cooperation has been carried out throughexchanges of scientific personnel, joint research projectsand the organization of seminars, symposia and meetings.Throughout the 1990s, institutions of the two countriesalso started to cooperate by means of joint participation

in various European programmes.Such cooperation was intensifiedwhen, in 1996, Israel joined theEuropean Fourth RTD FrameworkProgram (1994-1998). Italian-Israelicooperation gained a significant boostsince the Inter-Government Agreementon I ndus t r i a l , Sc ien t i f i c andTechnological Cooperation enteredinto force in October 2002. Since then,thirteen joint Italian-Israeli Meetingshave been organized in Israel – witha total number of more than twohundred Italian participants and abouteight hundred Israeli participants – onvar ious top ics : Env i ronmenta lTechnologies; Artificial Intelligence;Cognitive Neuroscience; MaterialsResearch; Molecular and CellularBiology; Agriculture; Digital Access toScientif ic and Cultural Heritage;Neurosciences; Water Management;Onco logy ; I ndus t r i a l Des ign ;Mechan ica l Eng inee r ing ; andAstrophysics. All Israeli universitieshave been i nvo l ved i n suchcooperation activities, while, from theItalian side, professors and researchersfrom more than thirty universities, have

come to Israel to attend these Meetings.In addition, in the framework of the Inter-Government

Agreement, and mostly as follow-up to the Italian-IsraeliMeetings, other specific Agreements have been signedand implemented. These include:

☛ an Agreement for Cooperation in the Field ofHealth and Medical Research was signed in October2002: notable activities have been initiated in cooperationwith the Rambam Medical Center of Haifa; the main Italiancounterparts are the ULSS 13 (13th Local Health-SocialTrust) of the Region of Veneto and the Istituto ReginaElena of Rome;

☛ a Memorandum of Understanding was signed,in April 2003, between the Italian Ministry of Environmentand Tel Aviv University: the Italian Ministry of Environmenthas allocated 1,500,000 Euro, for the implementation ofa cooperation programme made by six joint researchprojects in the field of environment;

☛ an Agreement was signed in June 2003, betweenthe University of Haifa (The Caesarea Rothschild Institutefor Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science) andthe Istituto Trentino di Cultura (Centro per la RicercaScientifica e Tecnologica), to carry out a three-year joint

P R E S E N T D A Y

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The Boost of ScientificCooperation

research project on Innovative Technologies for HumanDevelopment: the two institutions have jointly allocatedabout 1,200,000 Euro for the implementation of the project;

☛ a Joint Declaration of Intents in AgriculturalCooperation was signed in December 2003 by theMinisters of Agriculture of the two countries: variousactivities have already been carried out.

In recent years, Italian-Israeli cooperation also gaineda major boost in the context of the European RTDFramework Programmes: in the Fifth FrameworkProgramme, Italian and Israeli institutions (universities,research centres and private companies) jointlyparticipated in 276 research projects, 98 coordinated byan Italian or by an Israeli institution. This cooperation ispresently developing in the context of the Sixth EuropeanFramework Programme.

An overview of the main cooperation activities carriedout in the last five years between Italy and Israel in thescientific and technological field, has been presented inthe publication Italy – Israel: Five Years of Scientific andTechnological Cooperation, edited by the Italian Embassyin Israel, in October 2004.

P R E S E N T D A Y

G u g l i e l m o C a s t r o , S c i e n t i f i c A t t a c h éThe Embassy of Italy in Israel

16

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by Luca Franchetti Pardo and Alessandro Veltri

A Dialogueon Security

1. It goes without saying that Italy and Israel are twocountries sharing a natural Mediterranean outlook as wellas common democratic values. It might seem superfluousto stress their need to work together towards the identificationof proper responses to the new challenges and threats –transformed into reality – at the very start of the newmillennium. The fight against international terrorism andproliferation of weapons of mass destruction – that we needto prevent from falling into the hands of State and non-State entities – is at the top of our agenda. But when itcomes to the Mediterranean Sea, we cannot fail to focuson the fight against illicit traffic, whether it concerns humanbeings, weapons or drugs; nor can we neglect environmentalprotection and military-civil cooperation in civil emergencies.

2. Italy and Israel’s interests – obviously in jointpartnership with other countries of the region – to makethe Mediterranean an area of peace and prosperity, demandthat these two countries develop a security dialogue, bothon a bilateral level and in the wider frame of the InternationalForum. Starting from the bilateral level, one may recall that,in June 2003, Italy and Israel signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, in order to cooperate in the military anddefense sectors, using an appropriately judicial framework,in the light of their common commitment to the stabilizationof the Mediterranean region. In addition to the traditionalsectors considered in this kind of agreement, the 2003MOU also provided for cooperation in humanitarian activitiesand environmental matters.

On a multilateral level, the two countries take part inimportant initiatives like the EU European NeighborhoodPolicy and NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue. In both of themour country has played an active role, supporting a full Israeliinvolvement and taking advantage of the excellent relationsthat we enjoy with all the regional partners.

3. The Italian commitment to regional stability isshown by its active participation in three peacekeepingoperations.

As is clearly indicated in the Strategic Concept of theItalian Chief of Staff, Admiral Di Paola, contributing to theresolution of international crises is an important part of theduties and missions of the Italian Armed Forces.

This is also demonstrated by the visible Italianparticipation in the prevention and management ofinternational crises, aimed at guaranteeing peace, security,stability and international legality, as well as the affirmationof fundamental human rights, in the spirit of the UnitedNations Charter.

The involvement is always in the international

organisational sphere, first and foremost in NATO, EU, andUN Forces, and/or via multilateral accords, with particularconsideration of the European principle of self-governancein the context of crises management. It is in the samecontext that certain areas are considered, from our nationalpoint of view, strategic interest areas, among them the Nearand Middle East.

Military missions have therefore become, in the eyesof a growing number of countries, a necessary instrumentin the process of establishing and preserving a lasting peace.

Regional conflicts (the Arab-Israeli and the presentcrisis in the Middle East framework) determine the necessityof establishing certain missions that, with different butcomplementary measures, are working in synergy so as toguarantee security, stability, and peace.

4. The Missions that this article refers to are: UNTSO,MFO, TIPH 2., Italy has been participating in all of these fora number of years.

(a) UNTSO: is the oldest Peacekeeping Mission of theUnited Nations, established in accordance with resolution50 of the UN Security Council on May 29, 1948 and itspreceding modifications. The Mission deals with both theimplementation of the truce treaty, signed separately betweenIsrael, Egypt, Jordan and Syria in 1949, and control of theceasefire in the Suez Canal area and in the Golan Heights,

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Members of the italian Contingent’s Coastal PatrolUnit on Patrol in the Strait of Tiran

consequent to the Arab-Israeli war inJune 1967.

UNTSO works in four out of thefive countries historically involved inthe Middle East conflict (Israel, Egypt,Syria and Lebanon), but its contactsinvolve a fifth country, Jordan.

Thanks to the Peace Accordsfirst signed between Israel and Egypt(1979), and then between Israel and Jordan (1994), as wellas the present situation of the military freeze betweenLebanon and Syria, UNTSO is a small-scale mission: currentlycomposed of approximately 150 official observers comingfrom 22 countries.

UNTSO's staff was always able to form, at short notice,the initial core of other operations of peacekeeping. Theavailability of military observers of UNTSO to relocate almostimmediately after the activation of a new operation on behalfof the Security Council was a determinant factor of thesuccess of these operations.

In the Middle East, groups of military observers ofUNTSO are currently associated with subsequentpeacekeeping forces located in the area: the United NationsDisengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), located in theGolan Heights, and the United Nation Interim Force inLebanon (UNIFIL).

A group of observers is stationed, usually in the Sinai,to maintain the presence of the UN in the Peninsula.Moreover, UNTSO keeps offices of its own in Beirut andDamascus.

The mandate of the Mission assigned to it by the UNSecurity Council, foresees the ensuring of the observationand maintenance of the ceasefire pending the achievementof a peace accord, as well as assisting the involved partiesin the supervision and observance of the Armistice Accordsof 1949. It is, therefore, a mandate not tied to a specificterritory or time frame, but rather tied up with the achievementof peace in the Middle East. The mission has regionalinterests, is permanent, logistically self-governing anddisarmed. The Italian national contribution, in terms of militaryobservers that have worked in the Middle East since 1958(in accordance with Law 848, of 17 July 1957) is comprisedof seven officials.

(b) After the trilateral accords (USA-Israel-Egypt) ofCamp David on 17 September 1978, confirmed by thePeace Treaty of 26 March 1979, Israel withdrew from theSinai Peninsula territory, occupied since the 1967 war, onthe condition that the entire area would be thereafterdisarmed and inspected by a Multinational Force, whichshould guarantee the implementation of the Treaty's principlesby all contracting States.

However, various events have made it difficult to providefor the establishment of a complete UN Force: as a substitute,Egypt and Israel as the contracting parties, and the UnitedStates as the guaranteeing nation, concluded an Agreementon 3 August 1981, establishing the Multinational Force andObservers (MFO), with tasks analogous to the ones originally

foreseen by the Blue Helmets under the Peace Treaty.The MFO was moved to Sinai on 25 April 1982 and

since then has been working for the control of the borderbetween Egypt and Israel and from the Mediterranean Seato Sharm-El-Sheikh in the Tiran Strait. Ever since itsestablishment, the Peace Force has been responsible forvigilance, control and monitoring over an area called CharlieZone (in the vicinity of the Israeli border and along the EastCoast of Sinai from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf ofAqaba) and has, in this zone alone, more than thirtyobservation sites.

The MFO was established with contingents from elevendifferent countries. The Italian contribution for the missionincludes a military contingent that, since 1982, has beenactive in Sinai (Egypt) with about 77 soldiers of the Navy,subdivided between the Squadron Staff and the crews ofthree naval units for coastal patrol, that form the 10th NavalCoast Group with a base in the Sharm el Sheikh Port.

Our contingent, also called the Coastal Patrol Unit(CPU) under the MFO's responsibility, has been assignedthe task of patrolling the areas bordering with the TiranStrait, linking the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, andguaranteeing freedom of navigation in the Gulf along thecoastal strip and inside Ras Mohammed and Dahab (a totalof almost 47 miles), registering violations falling under article5 of the Camp David Treaty.

Since March 2004 the Mission's Chief is an Italian:General D. Roberto Martinelli.

(c) The TIPH 2 (Temporary International Presence inHebron) was created following the demand of the IsraeliGovernment and the Palestinian Authority, following thesignature of the Interim Agreement on the West Bank andGaza Strip on 28 September 1995. This Agreement providesfor both the partial withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces(IDF) from Hebron, as well as the transitory presence ofinternational observers. Historically, the Mission precededthe first TIPH, which was present in Hebron since August1994, monitoring the security situation in the city.

The countries participating in the mission were: Italy,Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. On21 January 1997 a new agreement was signed betweenthe two parties regarding the TIPH 2, where the scope ofthe mission and the duration of its mandate (six months)were announced. After this, a Memorandum ofUnderstanding was signed in Oslo on 30 January 1997 bythe six participating countries. TIPH 2 launched its operationsin the relevant terr itory on February 1, 1997.

The duties of the staff are primarily associated withguaranteeing, by its mere presence, a sense of security tothe Palestinians living in Hebron, encouraging the economicdevelopment of the city and supporting the promotion andexecution of projects launched by donating countries. Allis done in full coordination with the Israeli and PalestinianAuthorities.

The city of Hebron is the area of responsibility of themission. The TIPH 2 is authorized to work both in the areaunder Israeli control, and in the area under Palestinian

P R E S E N T D A Y

32

control. The staff of Mission cannot interfere in disputes orincidents, but may report via the appropriate channels andit has no military or police status and cannot initiateindependent inquiries.

The reports compiled are transmitted to the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Committees established under the Accords,which are competent to follow them up in case of evidenceof violations of International Agreements or of universallyrecognized human rights. In terms of national contribution,Italy appoints the Vice-Chief of the Mission, a Colonel fromthe Carabinieri, and participates with a contingent of theCarabinieri, composed of 16 soldiers and an officier of theArmy.

Even if these facts and the duties of the missions are,

objectively, diversified, it should be remembered that allmissions work for the fundamental exigencies that are toguarantee peace, security, stability, and international legality.

It is a true that today, soldiers, and the Military in general,adopt a holistic approach (global, integrated, interdisciplinary),with the aim of developing multidisciplinary, integrated andmultinational fields, synergic operative capacities, suitablefor executing a large number of missions, includinghumanitarian ones, and crises prevention and managementprocedures.

It is true that, in the future, military operations will beincreasingly combined with other initiatives - political,diplomatic, economic, social, legal, and informative, andthat this will require a measured, coordinated, andcooperative system.

It also confirms that a State such as Israel, that has aneffective and calibrated military instrument can benefit fromthe opportunities and advantages of an international militarypresence for the common interest of peace.

It confirms that the protection of rights, through security,is an international language and that dialogue may also belaunched, guaranteed and conserved through militarychannels.

Luca Franchetti Pardo, First Counselor,The Embassy of Italy in IsraelColonel Alessandro Veltri, Defense Attaché

P R E S E N T D A Y

The Italian Tiph Team in Hebron

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by Ermanna Clemente di San Luca

Two Italian ArchaeologicalExpeditions

I t a l i an a rchaeo logy i s a t ta in ing ongo ingachievements in two important Israeli sites, thank alsoto the support of Italian institutions. The first dig is inthe Negev, in the area of Mount Karkom under thesupervision of Prof. Emmanuel Anati. The second is inBet Jimal, near the city of Bet Shemesh, under thesupervision of Prof. Andrzej Strus.

The Archaeological Mission in Har Karkom

For over 20 years the expedition, headed by Prof.Emmanuel Anati and promoted by the Camuno Centreof Prehistoric Studies with the sponsorship of the ItalianMinistry of Foreign Affairs, has been excavating anextensive territory in the Negev with the permission ofthe Israel Antiquities Authority.

Significant rock art finds were discovered in thearea, which shows evidence of a culture that datesback to 12,000 years ago. These graffiti cast light onthe life, traditions, migrations and human relationshipsbetween peoples who inhabited the Peninsula of Sinai,Egypt, Arabia, Jordan and adjacent Eastern areas.By studying these signs and artefacts, we canreconstruct many aspects pertaining to the life of thosewho inhabited the area, from their military tactics, tothe mining and trading of mineral resources.

Various discoveries have been made at Har Karkomover the years. Besides the graffit i, two hundredPaleolithic sites brought us archaeological finds of anentirely new nature.

The archaeological mission concentrated its effortson studying the finds which could shed light on thebehaviour of groups of hunters. In the Bronze Age,Har Karkom became a place of worship, a sacredmountain, a designated place for pilgrimage with altarsand sanctuaries - so many, in fact, that we can drawthe hypothesis that the site might be identified as theBiblical Mount Sinai.

An assumption on which Anati keeps on workingis that there were routes from Egypt towards Jericho,passing through the Peninsula of Sinai, the Negev,Jordan and the not yet identified area known as theLand of Goshen, and that Har Karkom might havebeen one of the stops made in the Biblical journey of

Exodus. The hypothesis is based on previous finds,including geographical analysis of places described inBiblical sources, research carried on in the field, andtopographic considerations.

From these materials it can be deducted that manyof the routes taken by the Israelites fleeing Egypt were

P R E S E N T D A Y

34

Har Karkom – Prehistorical Graffiti

Khirbet Jiljil (Bet Jimal) Archaeological Excavations

The excavations at Khirbet Jiljil led in 2003 by Prof. A.Strus and Dr. Sh. Gibson, under the auspices of the SalesianPontifical University of Rome, uncovered the structure ofan ancient Christian monastery, dating possibly back to theByzantine time.

The structure was apparently made of an external wallenclosing other buildings and courtyards over an area of40 square meters.

Excavations carried out previously, and financed by theItalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, revealed other spaces,leading to the assumption that the underground rooms, twohalls and another hypogeum were formerly connected.Regarding the two spaces paved with mosaics, they areprobably:

1) a west-east oriented vestibule, 10 meters long andapproximately 2.5 meters wide, with a geometric-patterned mosaic all along its wall, and, at its westernend, a Greek inscription (“Come in and Exult”)accompanied by symbolic elements such as a diamond,a cross, a little flower, a ringed cross and a redpomegranate;

2) a large room at the vestibule’s southern side (8 x 6.8meters) where presumably people were supposed toenter after having visited the eastern part of the vestibule,(see the above mentioned inscription). A three-column

arcade supporting two arches divided the great hall atits centre. In previous times, a colonnade separatedthe hall from the vestibule: pilgrims passed through itin order to reach the other two rooms. Later, a wallseems to have replaced the colonnade.

One can assume that the large hall was an oratory forpilgrims and the side rooms refectories. It is indeed in a sideroom next to one of the refectories that an undergroundentrance hall was found, leading to a series of caves. Underthis entrance hall there is a room with a passageway to alittle man-high window, under which there are two stonebenches carved in the rock, with a vase (0.5 meter diameterand 25-30 litres capacity) standing on one of them. Fromall these elements, never found before in a monastery, onecan assume that this was a very important pilgrimage site.

Moreover, it seems that the underground room servedreligious rather than domestic purposes. The vase containedneither oil nor wine, yet, if the underground room could beidentified as one of those hypogea with small windowsthrough which pilgrims used to look at the tombs of healersaints, one could infer that the vessel contained a liquidoriginating from contact with the tomb, therefore pilgrimswould have drawn from it and taken it away. This is Prof.Strus’ hypothesis, endorsed by an inscription found at thewestern end of the vestibule, referring to some words inone single passage of the Scriptures (Book of Tobias), wherethe protagonist, having healed the bride and her father,

ancient desert tracks followed in the Bronze and IronAges. The routes passed by trade stations and smallinhabited centres.

The research undertaken in 2004 aimed at gatheringthe evidences collected in previous years, compilingplanimetric maps, and classifying and organising photosalready taken, in order to create a written documentaccessible through the internet site and the press.

In the course of 2005 the Rock Art of Har Karkomwill be thoroughly investigated, and the inventory ofthese unique finds will be completed.

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Har Karkom – Prehistorical Anthropomorphic Sculptures

Har Karkom – Italian Archaeological Team at Work

crosses the threshold exulting and praising God – thepassage, though, for lack of space, is not reported entirelyin the finding. There are also four drawings flanking theletters, recalling the symbolism of the four Saints in thefinding of the relics of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.This new direction taken by the investigation could thusshed light on a crucial issue in the study of Early Christianity

in the Holy Land. Works of consolidation and conservationof the structures belonging to the Hellenistic, Roman,Byzantine and Ummayad periods are planned for Summer2005.

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P R E S E N T D A Y

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Ermanna Clemente di San Luca,Italian Cultural Institute

Excavations at Khirbet Jiljil (Bet Jimal)

H o w S I M E S T s u p p o r t s i n t e r n a t i o n a lc o l l a b o r a t i o n b e t w e e n c o m p a n i e s

The new Venture Capital Fund for the Mediterranean and Italian-Israeli partnershipsThe President of SIMEST, Ruggero Manciati, has stated that competition on the global market ischaracterised by dynamics that lead to continuous pressure on companies and complex challenges,especially when it comes to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. “SIMEST has always played the roleof a partner to companies in tackling these challenges, and acts as a merchant bank and global partner”.The extent of the action is organized in such a way that it is able to support Italian Companies in settingup their various international collaboration projects. We are able to help companies”, continues MrManciati, “with identifying good business opportunities. In this regard, one should remember that, bysetting up two Business Matching Meetings in 2003, SIMEST made it possible for various Italian andIsraeli Companies involved to set up entrepreneurial undertakings. SIMEST also supports ItalianCompanies in setting up projects from an organisational and technical/financial point of view. We thenwork with the investment capital created by Italian Companies, and this activity has recently been extendedwith the launching of Venture Capital Funds”.“The Venture Capital Funds made available by the Italian Government and managed by SIMEST, andespecially the Mediterranean Fund”, stresses the General Manager, Massimo D’Aiuto, “are a way ofproviding a further strong incentive for the creation of collaboration between Italian Companies andcompanies in the area. These Funds are intended to support investments made by our Companies, andare available in addition to SIMEST’s traditional involvement in the capital stock of companies set upabroad. Joint SIMEST / Venture Capital Fund share”, continued Mr D’Aiuto, “of the capital for companiesset up abroad may be as high as 49%. In just over a year, the Mediterranean Fund has played a part in14 investments, setting aside more than Euro 17 million in all, which shows how well it has been acceptedby Italian Companies, and especially by Small and medium-sized Enterprises, to whom a specific quotaof the Fund is allocated”.

EQUITY CAPITAL PARTICIPATION ANDSUPPORT FOR ITALIAN SHAREHOLDINGSABROAD

SIMEST can subscribe up to 25% of the total equity of the participated foreign (nonEU) company. SIMEST cannot hold the investment for more than 8 year; within thatperiod the Italian partner will acquire SIMEST shares at pre agreed conditions.SIMEST may provide financial support to Italian companies to underwrite shares ofthe equity in newly formed and existing foreign subsidiaries participated by SIMEST,including capital increases in companies already established.SIMEST moreover manages Venture Capital funds for the Ministry for ProductiveActivities, which are set aside for promoting investments abroad by Italian Companiesin China, Russia and the Ukraine, the Mediterranean, Africa and Iraq, the Balkans andex-Yugoslavian Republics.

FINANCING FOR PREFEASIBILITY ANDFEASIBILITY STUDIES AND TECHNICALASSISTANCE

It provides financial support for Italian firms, and their consortia and associations thatundertake prefeasibility and feasibility studies or implement technical assistanceprogrammes in non-EU countries.

SUPPORT FOR THE PARTICIPATION TOINTERNATIONAL TENDERS

The program facilitates the participation of Italian companies in foreign tenders innon-EU countries.

FINANCING FOR MARKETDEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

It encourages the installation of permanent structures and related promotional activitiesby Italian companies in non-EU countries.

EXPORT CREDITS SUPPORT It enables Italian exporters to offer foreign buyers/contractors deferred payment termsat fixed interest rates in line with those available from competitors according to OECD“Consensus” guidelines.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ANDPROFESSIONAL BUSINESS SERVICESAND CONSULTING

SIMEST provides Italian companies seeking to expand abroad with technicalassistance and advisory services, such as business scouting, matchmaking prefeasibilityand feasibility studies and advice on financial, legal and corporate mattersconcerning investments projects abroad to which SIMEST may contribute equitycapital.

The President and General Manager General of SIMEST

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A Short Guideto Italian Services

in Israel

The Library of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv

The Consular ServicesThe following are the main services that the

Consular Section of the Italian Embassy

(25 Ha’Mered St., The Trade Tower Building,68125 Tel Aviv, Fax 03/5100235,

e-mail: [email protected]) provides forthe Italian citizens permanent residents in Israel.

AIREAll Italian citizens permanently resident in Israel must

register at the AIRE (Anagrafe Italiani Residenti all’Estero)whether at the Embassy or at the Consulate General inJerusalem.

The Consulate General or the Consular Section shallregister the Italian citizens at the AIRE of their municipalityof origin.

Any change in the personal data relating to the registrationshould be promptly reported to the Consulate General or tothe Consular Section so that the registration shall becontinuously accurate and updated both in Israel and in Italy.

Repor t ing on a new address .

Italian citizens registered at the AIRE should inform theConsular Section when moving to a new address. This maybe done simply by sending a fax or a letter to the followingaddress:

The Consular Section, Italian Embassy 25 Ha’Mered St.,The Trade Tower Building, 68125 Tel Aviv, Fax 03/5100235.

Registering birth, matrimony, divorce and death.

Births, marriages, divorces and deaths occurring in Israelmust be reported promptly to the Consular Section bypresenting the applicable original certificate or a trueauthenticated copy thereof, issued by the same authority thathas issued the original certificate.

The original certificate or the true copy of the certificateshould receive the “Apostille” issued by the ConsularDepartment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

(The address of the Consular Department of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs- 9 Yitzhak Rabin Ave., Kiriat Ha’leomJerusalem. Tel. 02/5303358)

PA S S P O RTIssuance of a new passport or a renewal of a passport.

The pre-requisites are:✔ Being an Italian citizen✔ Presenting a valid identification document✔ Receiving the consent of the spouse in case the

applicant is a parent of minors.✔ Receiving the consent of the parents in case the

applicant is a minor.✔ Receiving a clearance from the competent police

authorities in Italy (Questura) or from the Consulate of the place of permanent residence and, in addition, from the authority that has issued the previous passport.

✔ Providing 2 passport-size photos.

Loss of passport. In case of theft or loss of the passport,the Italian citizen should refer immediately to the nearestPolice Station and file a complaint. Following that, he or sheshould arrive to the Embassy during office hours with a copyof the complaint, two passport-size photos, another documentof identity or, if available, a photocopy of the passport. TheConsular Section will issue a temporary travel documentfacilitating the return to Italy.

NOTARIZED DEEDSThe Consular Section has a certain notarial authority

under the Italian law, allowing it to legalise and authenticatecertain documents and signatures, relating to Italian citizensresiding in the Consular Section’s district, so as to makethese documents and signatures valid under Italian law.

P E N S I O N SThe Embassy transfers funds of certain pensions

recognized by the Italian Ministry of Economics and Financeincluding pensions of war, pensions of racial prosecutionand of former employees of public administration. The NationalInstitute of Social Pensions (INPS) transfers certain fundsdirectly to Italian citizens whose eligibility has been previouslyproven.

V O T I N G A B R O A DItalian citizens residing abroad have the right to vote to

elect members of the Chamber of Deputies (Camera deiDeputati) and of the Senate (Senato) of the Italian Parliament.They also have the right to vote when popular referenda forthe abrogation or confirmation of existing laws is held. Inthe case of political elections, voters will elect 12 Deputiesand 6 Senators for the Circoscrizione Estero. The Circoscrizione

A SHORT GUIDE TO ITALIAN SERVICES IN ISRAEL

39

Estero is subdivided into four geographical groups: A. Europe,B. South-America, C. Northern and Central America, D. Africa,Asia, Oceania and Antarctica. Israel belongs to the lattergroup. Voters will cast their votes for the candidates appearingon the lists presented in their respective geographical group.For each group one Deputy and one Senator will be elected.The remaining seats will be distributed among the geographicalgroups in proportion to the number of residents.

Who is eligible to vote. Italian citizens resident abroadaged 18 or more may vote to elect members of the Chamberof Deputies; those aged 25 or more may vote to elect alsomembers of the Senate. Only electors listed in the Registersof Electors are eligible to vote. The Registers of Electors willbe compiled according to updated records based on localAIREs and Consular data.

Who is eligible for candidature? The candidatesappearing on the electoral lists presented by each geographicalgroup must be both resident and electors of that group.

The process for casting votes. Italian citizens residingabroad can cast their votes by post. Within 18 days previousto the date of the elections, the Consular office will send toall electors an Electoral Pack containing: the electoral certificate,the ballot paper or ballot papers and related envelope, alarger, pre-stamped envelope containing the address of theConsular Office, the list of candidates and explanatory sheeton voting modalities, the text of Law 459/2001. Electors mustreturn the ballot papers to the Consular Office in the appropriateenvelope not later than 10 days prior to the election date.

How are the elections held. The Italian Embassy hasstipulated an agreement with the Government of Israel inorder to guarantee that the postal voting is exercised inconditions of equality, freedom and secrecy, without anyprejudice whatsoever for electors employment rights andany other rights.

The option to vote in Italy. Italian citizens residing abroadare not compelled to cast their vote by post. Law 459/2001foresees that electors have the option to vote in Italy, if theywish to do so, by traveling to the national territory and byvoting for the candidates of the constituency in which theyare registered in Italy (with no reimbursement). Electorswishing to return to Italy to cast their vote must notify thecompetent Consular Office of their intention in writing by the31st of December of the year before the natural expiry of thelegislature or in the case of earlier dissolution of Parliament,within 10 days of the calling of the elections. The option shallremain valid for a single election or referendum.

In Jerusalem’s consular district, assistance to Italiancitizens is provided by the Consulate General in Jerusalem:

Western Area:Kaf tet BeNovember, 16 - Katamon;Tel. 02-5618977; Fax 02-5671337

Eastern Area:Nablus Road, 60;

Tel: 02-5828138; Fax: 02-5322904

The Consular Section of the Italian Embassy providesa series of services for the non citizens residents inIsrael, in different fields:

VISAThe Schengen Visa. The Schengen system is a unifiedvisa system, in force in certain European countries,including Italy. With Schengen visa, you may enter onecountry and travel freely throughout the Schengenzone. The Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium,Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland,Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,Spain and Sweden (if one intends to visit only oneSchengen country, he must apply at the Embassy orConsulate of that particular country).

Prerequisites. If Italy is the only or main destinationof your journey, please pay attention to the followinginformation:✔ Visa applications must be submitted to the Consular

Section of the Embassy, and should include a completed and signed official visa application formaccompanied by one passport-size photograph.

✔ Only permanent residents in Israel are entitled to apply for a visa.

✔ Foreigners applying for visas must visit the Embassyin person in order to be interviewed on the reasonsand circumstances of the visit.

✔ Obtaining the visa is not a guaranteed right, and each case is evaluated according to the specific circumstances.Applications must be accompanied by a valid passport and all documents relevant for the anticipated journey. These documents, dependingon the type of visa requested or which the Consulatedeems it can issue, must necessarily state and/orprove:

✔ The purpose of the visit (letter of invitation,


40

summons, participation in an organised trip, etc.);✔ Means of transport to be used to go and to return

(a return ticket by air or sea);✔ Means of support during the journey and stay

(either in the form of cash in a convertible currency,or credit cards or other means of payment i.e. traveller's cheques, etc.);

✔ Accommodation arrangements (hotel or similaraccommodation bookings, documentation statingthe availability of a rented or owned dwelling, letterof invitation, etc.)

The major types of entry visa issued by the ConsulateSection are the following:✔ Working Visa For Self-Employees✔ Working Visa For Employees✔ Student Visa✔ Tourism Visa✔ Business Visa✔ Sport Visa✔ Religious Visa✔ Family Reunion Visa✔ Transit Visa

CITIZENSHIP

The Italian Citizenship is regulated under Law no. 91dated 5 February 1992, and all its applicable regulations.The Law has entered into force on 16 August 1992.

To receive information concerning the Italian Citizenship,please schedule an appointment with the ConsularSections representatives.

Please make sure all relevant documents and certificatesare available, including, without limitation: documentsproviding full details concerning your parents andancestors, an Italian certificate regarding the currentcivil status, a foreign passport if exists, a certificateproving the acquisition of foreign citizenship and statingthe date of acquisition, and the exact reason, or sectionin the applicable law, justifying the acquisition. The oldItalian passport should also be presented, if available.

More information at the following website:www.mininterno.it

In Jerusalem’s consular district, assistance to Italiancitizens is provided by the Consulate General inJerusalem:

Western Area:

Kaf tet BeNovember, 16 - Katamon;

Tel. 02-5618977; Fax 02-5671337

Eastern Area:

Nablus Road, 60;

Tel: 02-5828138; Fax: 02-5322904

C O M I T E S

President: Avv. Beniamino Lazar

P.O.Box 4203 - Jerusalem

Tel.: 02-6252477 – Fax: 02-6245825

e-mail: hl [email protected]

A COMITES (Committee of the Italians abroad) is

instituted in every consular district with at least 3000

Italian citizens, by a decree of the Minister of Foreign

Affairs, in coordination with the Minister for the Italians

in the world.

The Committee is the organ of representation of the

Italians in Israel in the relationships with the Italian

diplomatic and consular authorities in Israel.

The COMITES, also through studies and researches,

contributes to characterize the requirements of social,

cultural and civil development of its own community

of reference, suggesting accordingly possible

contributions to the Embassy, aimed at the definition

of its program of activities in Israel.

To such aim every Committee promotes, in collaboration

with the Italian diplomatic and consular authorities and

the representatives of Regions and local autonomies,

initiatives relating to the social and cultural life of the

Italian community residing in Israel. A particular attention

is given to: participation of the youngsters to

community’s activities; equal opportunities; social

welfare and education; professional training; recreational

field, sport and leisure time.


41

Sportello Unico per le Imprese

The Italian Business DeskOur new Italian Business Desk (Sportello Unico),

which has began operating in the new premises atthe 9th floor of the Trade Tower, HaMered 25, TelAviv, encompasses four different offices: theCommercial and the Scientific Offices of the Embassyof Italy; the Italian Trade Commission (TradePromotion Section of the Embassy) and the Israel-Italy Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Italian Business Desk is entrusted with thetask of deepening and developing the commercial,industrial and scientific relations between Italy andIsrael and to provide a complete set of consultingand support services to investors, researchers andbusiness people from both countries.

A number of public entities, both at a nationaland a regional level, as well as private businesses,have already expressed their interest in collaboratingand joining in. Here is a short description of of theorganizations that will help us bringing togetherItalian and Israeli enterprises.

Tel Aviv – Trade Tower, 9th floor Hamered 25Tel. 03-5161744 Fax 03-5161755e-mail: [email protected]

COMMERCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC OFFICES OFTHE EMBASSY OF ITALY

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attends to the political,economic, social and cultural relationships betweenItaly and foreign countries; it co-ordinates and tutelagesthe Italian interests on the international level; it analyses,defines and carries out the Italian foreign policy. TheMinistry also cares for the consistency of theinternational activities initiated by local authorities withthe general goals of Italian foreign policy, includingthat of a growing internationalisation of Italiancompanies.

Italian Trade Commission (ICE)

1) INFORMATION Through the SINCE (ItalianInformation System for Foreign Trade), ICE providesinstruments of analysis to Italian SMEs and institutionalusers to support companies with their decision-makingprocess. This information service is provided in differentways and in various degrees of detail: statistical data;information on the general economy and specificsectors; customs, tax, finance and currency regulationsor even ad hoc market researches are available. Inaddition to these services, there is a constantly updatedcollection of over 600 publications dealing witheconomic trends, country profiles, investment reports,country-risk analysis, monographic research andsectorial publications.

2) PROMOTION Through international fairs, missionsof exporters, exhibitions, congresses, communicationsand other initiatives in the Public PromotionalProgramme, the Italian Institute for Foreign Tradeincreases business opportunities and supportscompanies in their entrance into different markets,improves the image of the 'Made in Italy' brand andpromotes industrial co-operation and foreigninvestments in Italy.

3) MULTILATERAL CO-OPERATION The ItalianInstitute for Foreign Trade assists Italian companies inactivities of international co-operation in order tofacilitate access to financing by international organisationsand to encourage joint-venture opportunities andindustrial and technological partnerships withforeign companies. ICE also promotes industrial


42

Sportello Unico, Italian Business Desk

cooperation through workshops and bilateralmeetings, financial and operative advice andspecific seminars for companies operating in theservices sector.4) TRAINING SERVICES Training in the export sectoris fundamental to maintain the competitiveness ofproducts in the world markets. ICE activities are basedon the following pillars: research, innovation,communication and quality control of training processes,agreements and programmes with Italian Regions andlocal authorities for the training of foreigners, studentsand firms.

Ivnestinitaly is the Italian Investment PromotionNetwork.With headquarters in Rome, InvestInItaly relieson a fully integrated network of 18 Sviluppo Italiaregional companies, 10 ICE international informationdesks and a pool of selected partners for businessdevelopment.

InvestInItaly Head OfficeVia Calabria, 46 - 00187 RomeE-mail: [email protected]

Contact point in Israel: Italian Trade Commission (ICE)

ISRAEL-ITALY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Israel Italy Chamber of Commerce and Industrywas founded in 1955 as a non-profit association. In1993 it was officially recognised by the ItalianGovernment. The Chamber is part of a world-widenetwork of 68 bi-national Italian chambers and enjoysfull collaboration with the local Chambers of Commercein Italy.

The Chamber helps its members in developing andholding mutually beneficial business relations and increating new business opportunities by: ✔ Incorporating members into the databases of the

Italian Chambers in Italy and abroad and providingthem with exposure to potential clients and opportunity to publicize their offerings

✔ Providing knowledge and information services suchas: publication of trade news, market analyses, business opportunities and so on

✔ Providing support and consultation to already established businesses in solving every problem that can rise in their daily activities

✔ Organising business, technology and industry meetings, seminars, and events with delegations from both countries

The Chamber assists its members in finding and fullyexploiting the bilateral trade and investmentopportunities they seek providing them with Information

Information Services provided by the Chamber:

Bi-weekly publication of business opportunitiesbased on the analysis and comparison of the numerousrequests received, or on the basis of contacting potentialpartners

✔ Delivering information about exhibitions and presentations

✔ International tenders (rules, requirements) information delivery

✔ Market country analyses

✔ Background checks on companies

Assistance, Reference and Mediation Services:

✔ Assistance to existing business in logistic and dayto day problems

✔ Assistance to visiting delegations, organisation ofbilateral delegations and product presentations

✔ Organisation of exhibitions, seminars, workshopsand social events

✔ Individual Consulting

✔ Information about bi-national agreements

✔ Technology transfers and licensing

✔ Trade-mark and patent protection

✔ Advice on founding new branches and companies


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The Italian Cultural Institute

Tel Aviv – Trade Tower, 25 HaMered St.,tel. 03-5161361, fax 03-5161330

Haifa – 12 Meir St,tel. 04-8536091, fax 04-8523934

The Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv and theCultural Section of the Institute in Haifa are active inIsrael since 1960. The Cultural Agreement between thetwo Countries was signed later in Rome in 1971 andrenewed last time in 2004. The Institute has the taskof promoting Italian culture and life in the Israeli society,with particular attention to the language aspects: theknowledge of the language, indeed, constitutes thebest and immediate approach to the cultural life of ourcountry.

Acting as Cultural Office of the Embassy of Italy inIsrael, the Institute carries out the programmes foreseenby the agreements on the cultural cooperation and foryouth exchanges.

Since many years the Institute has participated inall the most prestigious Israeli national events: theFestival of Israel, the Films Festivals of Jerusalem andHaifa, the opera season of the New Israeli Opera, andmany more.

The Library of the Institute in Israel –Tel Aviv andHaifa - houses 15,600 volumes. The books cover awide range of subjects from classic and modern Italianliterature to history, from cinema to foreign novels, fromart to music, from theatre to Italian design. The Institutealso has a video library with numerous operas, classicfilms, documentary movies on art and history.

The Italian Cultural Institute organises:✔ courses of Italian language of various levels

and duration✔ examinations for the Certification of Knowledge of

Italian as Foreign Language in collaboration with the Universities of Perugia and Siena

✔ refresher courses for teachers of Italian language✔ exhibitions of Italian artists or concerning Italian

cultural topics✔ conferences and round tables on the various

aspects of Italian cultural life✔ meetings with Italian writers✔ concerts of Italian music or of Italians performers✔ retrospectives of Italian movies✔ projections of films and documentaries

The Italian Cultural Institute in Israel providesdocumentation and information on:

✔ scholarships and research fellowships✔ courses of Italian language and culture in Italy✔ Italian cultural events in Israel✔ cultural and scientific events in Italy✔ enrollment to Italian universities✔ Italian institutions✔ exchanges of Italian and Israeli professors and

researchers✔ grants for courses of Italian language in Italy.

The Italian Cultural Institute has computerised servicesof documentation in order to meet the requests ofinformation and to provide advice to researchers and bothItalian and foreign cultural operators. An annual paymentof 100 NIS is requested to become member of the Institute.

Learning ItalianThe Schools of the Italian Cultural Institute

In the field of Italian language, the Institute offerscourses in many locations throughout Israel: Acre,Ararra Ashkelon, Beersheba, Haifa, Herzliya, Nazareth,Netanya, Or Yehuda, Ramat Gan, and Tel Aviv - Jaffa.In Jerusalem the courses are held by the affiliated DanteAlighieri Society.

The Italian language courses cover all levels, startingfrom beginners and slowly working up to advancedlevels - where the teaching of the Italian language iscombined with the reading of Italian literature, the studyStaff of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv

Director: Simonetta Della Seta


44

of Italian art and the screening of Italian films. Inaddition, special courses are directed at students whowish to pursue an academic future in Italian Universitiesand Academies.

Since 2001 the Institute has also promoted Italianlanguage and culture through the organisation of theItalian Language Week in the World, consisting ofvarious events: concerts, conferences, discussions,workshops and book presentations.

Tel Aviv – 205, Dizengoff St.Tel. 03-523.45.44 Fax. 03-522.38.86E-Mail: [email protected]

Haifa – 12, Meir St.Tel. 04-853.60.91 Fax. 04-852.39.34E-Mail: [email protected]

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs alsosupports the work of three Italian lecturers who teachItalian language at three Israeli universities: Tel AvivUniversity, Haifa University, Ben Gurion University(Beersheva).

The Dante Alighieri Society

The Dante Alighieri Society for the promotion ofItalian language and culture was founded in Jerusalemin 1951 by Italian immigrants, who believed that theirculture had something important to contribute to Israelisociety.

The organization runs Italian courses for beginnersaimed at developing verbal skills. For the moreadvanced, it offers courses in Italian syntax, which helpthose who have a particular interest in both classicaland contemporary Italian literature and poetry. Inaddition, it offers specialised courses for those whointend to undertake a period of study at Italianuniversities.

Coupled with these activities are cultural events,which take place either in Hebrew or in Italian. Moreover,it organises lectures on Italian culture, screening offilms in Italian, concerts, and excursions. Every spring,the Dannte Alighieri holds a festival, which focuses onand celebrates different cities and regions in Italy. TheDante Alighieri owns a well-stocked public library, whichcontains over 5,000 books in Italian.

Two more branches of the Dante Alighieri Societyoperate in Israel, in Haifa and in Nazareth. The DanteAlighieri in Nazareth organises courses of Italianlanguage.

Jerusalem – Dante Alighieri SocietyHaHavatzelet St. 9 Tel 02-6221110

Nazareth – Dante Alighieri SocietyAlsalam St. 4002/45 Tel/fax 04-6564969

Haifa – Dante Alighieri SocietyP.O.Box 7261 c/o Beit Hana Hushi NaamatTel 04-8252221

AMITEI ITALIA ASSOCIATIONAmitei Italia is an association that endeavours to

gather all Israelis who have studied or lived in Italy forprofessional reasons.

The association's main goal is to contribute to theexchange of information in the fields of scientific andtechnological research between the two countries, toorganise cultural and educational meetings andconventions, and to involve all of its members in theactivities promoted by Italian institutions in Israel.To register, please fill in the application form on thewebsite of the Embassy of Italy:

www.ital ian-embassy-israel.org or the ItalianCultural Institute: www.italcult.net

For fur ther in format ion :[email protected]


45

Italian Hospitals

HOLY FAMILY FATEBENEFRATELLIHOSPITAL-NAZARETH

ADDRESS: P.O.BOX 8 16100 NAZARETHTEL. 04-6508900 FAX: 04-6576101E-mail: [email protected]

The Hospi ta l was founded in 1882 byFatebenefratel l i of the order of the AustrianProvince. Italian presence appeared only in 1959.

The hospital is composed by two buildings, the firstwas built in the 1884 and the second in 1980. TheRegion of Tuscany stipulated an agreement with thehospital for medical care of children in Italy, trainingprofessional stages and the exchange of experiences.Thanks also to the financial support of the Region ofVeneto, the hospital could establish an Emergency Unitand an Intensive Unit.

FOUNDATION YEAR: 1882BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS: the structure is an

“L” shape and composed by 4 floors and 2 basementlevels

SPECIALISATIONS: Surgery, Urology, Ortophaedics,Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Neonatology,Diabetology, Gastroenterology, Radiology, Traumatology,and Geriatrics

NUMBERS OF EMPLOYEES: 260NUMBER OF BEDS: 109ACTIVITIES RESEARCH: Projects of clinical research

in Hepatitis B and CCOLLABORATION WITH ITALIAN OR FOREIGN

CENTRES: Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome, Faculty atMedicine of the at Tor Vergata University in Rome, EuropeanInstitute of Oncology in Milan, Regions of Tuscany andVeneto, Hadassa Medical Centre in Jerusalem.

ITALIAN MEDICAL PRESENCE: 8 Italian citizens

ITALIAN HOSPITAL-HAIFA

ADDRESS: P.O.BOX 9123 31091 HAIFATEL. : 04-8514294 FAX: 04-8520704E-mail: [email protected]

The Italian Hospital in Haifa belongs to the ItalianNational Association ANSMI, a catholic and philanthropicassociation founded at the end of 19th Century by prof.Ernesto Schiaparelli. The goal was to support the workof missioners in the Holy Land and through out theworld. The Italian Hospital in Haifa was founded in1905. Until 1927 the Hospital was located in a buildingbelonging to the town council of Haifa, the doctorswere Italian. Later it became a general hospital whichcares for all the northern population of the countries.

In the 1950s the Hospital buoght radiationequipment for the care of cancer and it founded anoncology unit. Today this unit is under the supervisionof Rambam Universitary Hospital. The Region of Tuscanystipulated an agreement with the hospital for the medicalcare of children in Italy, training professional stagesand the exchange experiences.

FOUNDATION YEAR: 1905BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS: 3 floors, basement

level and 2 side buildings compose the complexSPECIALISATIONS: Oncology- SurgeryNUMBERS OF EMPLOYEES: 85NUMBER OF BEDS: 95COLLABORATION WITH ITALIAN OR FOREIGN

CENTRES: Israel- Rambam Hospital of Haifa, Facultyof Medicine of La Sapienza University of Rome, PediatricHospital Bambin Gesu’ in Rome, European Institute ofOncology in Milan, Region of Tuscany, Meyer Hospitalin Pisa.

ITALIAN MEDICAL PRESENCE: 8 sisters

Haifa – Italian Hospital


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Nazareth – Italian Hospital

Other Institutions

The U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art

Housed in the heart of Jerusalem, the U. NahonMuseum of Italian Jewish Art is one of Israel’s mostprecious possessions.

Founded in 1981, it was set up to collect, preserveand display objects pertaining to Jewish life in Italyfrom the Middle Ages through to the present. In additionto the permanent collection, a number of temporaryexhibits are held throughout the year covering a widerange of topics related to Italian Jewry, as well asconferences, concerts, festivals and guided tours.

The collection of arks and religious objects fromthe Renaissance and Baroque periods was broughtfrom Italy to Israel in the 1960s by Dr. Umberto Nahon,through a joint initiative in collaboration with the Jewishcommunities of Italy in Israel. These rare items werefound in desecrated synagogues that belonged tocommunities which had completely lost their members.They were kept in spaces adjacent to the synagogueuntil 1982, when the Museum was officially recognisedby the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sport and wasopened to the public.

The Museum’s main attraction is the 18th centurysynagogue of Conegliano Veneto, located 60 kilometersfrom Venice. The synagogue, now located in downtownJerusalem, is considered to be the spiritual centre forJews of Italian origin. Prayers are conducted accordingto the Roman or Italian rite, one of the most ancient inthe Jewish world.

In the past few years, thanks to extensive mediacoverage and hard work, the number of visitors hasgrown steadily. The museum’s opening hours wereincreased accordingly.

The museum’s education division offersprogrammes, guides, and creative activities geared forall our visitors: elementary school children, high schoolstudents, young adults, immigrants, tourists, Arabsand special tours for the blind. Museum brochures areavailable in the following languages: Arabic, English,French, Hebrew, Italian and Russian.

The Museum of Italian Jewish Art operates theCentre for the Restoration of Wood and Textiles. Thecentre specialises in the detailed restoration of objectsdating from the Italian Renaissance and Baroqueperiods. The specialists, trained in Italy and around theworld, apply the same techniques practiced inworkshops during the Renaissance period. The Institutefor the Study of Italian Jewry initiates activities relatedto the study of Italian Jewish culture, including Italianconcerts, study days, and lectures covering manyissues. The Institute also houses a research library onItalian Jewry.

Address: The U. Nahon Museum of Italian JewishArt is located in the centre of Jerusalem:27 Hillel Street, Jerusalem 94581, Israel.Tel.: 02-6241-610Fax: 02-6253-480E-mail: j i j a@netv is ion.net . i l

Museum and Synagogue opening hours:Sun, Tue, Wed: 9am-5pmMon: 9am-2pmThurs, Fri: 9am-1pmClosed on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays.

IRGUN OLEI ITALIAAssociation of Immigrants from Italy

The Association of Italian Immigrants is a volunteerorganisation which deals with the absorption of ItalianJews in Israel, and cares for the many Italian Holocaustsurvivors.

It has volunteer representatives around the country,in cities, kibbutzim and moshavim.

The Association maintains constant contact withthe Jewish Agency offices in Italy and in Israel, andwith the Jewish Community in Italy. An Italian language


47

Jerusalem – Italian Synagogue and Museum of Italian Jewish Art

library at Beth Italia in Jaffa, is open to the public. TheAssociation maintains also close ties with the ItalianIsrael Chamber of Commerce and with the ItalianEmbassy in Tel Aviv. It helps young students ,accompanies people who make alyah in their first steps,helps to find employment and a new home in Israel.

The Association was founded as far as 1938, oneof the founders was Enzo Sereni, but due to the limitednumber of immigrants, and different backgrounds, theAssociation had ups and downs during all these years.A group of volunteers decided to revive the activitywith a few social activities. An annual IndipendenceDay picnic, a Sukkot gathering, folklore evenings inHanuka' and Purim, a traditional Seder which bringstogether a large number of the community members.In addition, the tragic events of October 16, 1943 inRome are commemorated at an annual ceremony atYad Vashem. On Yom Hashoah, public readings of allthe names of the Italian victims of Shoah are held inJerusalem and Ramat Gan Italian synagogue.

IRGUN OLEI ITALIAP.O.B 56 – Herzlya 46100Tel: 09 7717958 – Fax 09 7748907e-mail: [email protected]

BEITH WIZO ITALIABeith Wizo Italia , today a social centre, was

created in 1958 as an after school programme, bythe will and cooperation of a group of Italian ladies.The people living in the neighborhood take part inthe different activities.

A group of golden age ladies meet daily in theirspecific room, and a specialised teacher organiseslectures, gym classes, special computer courses,English lessons, and various activities. From timeto time they go to theatre or to field trips. Thecentre also organises a programme for childrenwith gym lessons, ceramic courses, modern dance,basket ball, soccer (there are two soccer fields),jazz ballet lessons, piano, drama. In the eveninggroups of young couples meet, always with aninstructor, listen to lectures, sometimes they havelittle dinner parties, dance, sing, and have fun alltogether. There is an open Italian library on thepremises, where from time to time a group of

Italian ladies meet for conferences, videoscreenings, bazaars, or any other simple gathering.

Beth Wizo Italia is sponsored and directed bya public forum composed by The Tel Aviv- JaffaCity Council, the Wizo and Yedidei Beith Italia, anassociation of Italian ladies who have been takingpart voluntarily in the direction of the institutionsince the beginning.

BEITH WIZO ITALIA Rh. Nahal Soreq 1Jaffa – Tel: 03-6827196


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The Embassy of Italy acknowledgesthe contribution of the followingcompanies, which supported its

promotional activities

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