Bisacquino Jewish

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🎧 STAGE 3 – BISACQUINO JEWISH: TRACES, HISTORY AND MEMORY

The third leg of our itinerary takes us to discover the Jewish presence in Bisacquino, a little-known but fascinating reality with roots in the Middle Ages. As in many other places in Sicily, the presence of a Jewish community is documented in Bisacquino, which was integrated into the social and economic fabric of the town until its expulsion in 1492, imposed by the Alhambra decree under the Catholic kingdoms of Spain.

In that year the Jews of Bisacquino and neighboring towns gathered in Sciacca where they boarded three large sailing ships bound for Naples. According to various testimonies, there were 200 Jews living in Bisacquino at the peak of their presence in the neighborhood called “Ghetto,” today’s Via XXIV Maggio.

Local tradition still preserves place names, architectural elements and oral references that lead back to the so-called“Giudecca,” the neighborhood where Jewish housing and activities were concentrated. The area consists of several courtyards with associated water wells, as was the custom of the Jews.

Some of the buildings in the historic center-for example, houses with segmental lintels or slit windows-show architectural features typical of Jewish dwellings of the time. There are also tales of ancient cisterns for ritual bathing (mikveh) and cloth making, typical activities of the Jewish community. Many Jews “disguised” their identity by adopting city names as their last names.

The “giant onion of Bisacquino” became a symbol of the town thanks mainly to the Jewish community. Although the origin of the bulb dates back to the Phoenicians, “its greatest use became established with the Jews, so much so that its odor together with garlic, which it expanded from the local Judaea, remained proverbial.”

It is not far-fetched to speculate that it was the Jewish family vegetable gardens-concentrated where the Rosary Quarter now stands-that consolidated its spread, so much so that after the expulsion (1492) the quarter was razed and the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary was erected on the area to “purify” the site.

Regional and local studies point to Bisacquino as one of the smaller towns where the Jewish presence, though not numerous, was significant in terms of mercantile and craft activities and the transmission of agricultural and medical knowledge.

This legacy, though partly submerged, still lives on in the tales and names of some streets, symbols carved on stones, and traditions passed down orally.

The memory of Jewish Bisacquino is thus an integral part of the country’s history, and to value it is to give back a voice to a culture that has contributed to the formation of our collective identity.