The Zionist Network and Enzo Bonaventura: From Florence to Jerusalem

Abstract

One specific characteristic of Italian Jewry has been its integration. They were traditionally patriotic and devoted to the monarchy. In 1848 the king of Sardinia had recognized their equality, subsequently extended to other regions until Italian unification. They generally had an excellent modern education, played an important role in the country’s social and intellectual life, in the state administration, and, a fact that is perhaps unique in Europe, were even welcome in the highest ranks of the army and navy. The history of the Jews in any Italian city, explained Arnaldo Momigliano in 1933, reviewing a book by the English historian Cecil Roth, could not be understood if one did not see that “just as the Piedmontese or Neapolitans became Italian, at the same time [ … ] Jews living in Italy also became Italians:”¹ Many were Jews who did “not attend the synagogue on the Sabbath, [could] not speak Hebrew, nor observe any of the creed’s practices,” as Nello Rosselli explained about himself in his famous speech to the Fourth Jewish Youth Meeting in Livorno in November 1924.