He is an expert on the shuls in the area and was a great guide. Although there is a shul in Alessandria (close to where we were staying), that shul was still under restoration and as such we could not visit it. The restoration is scheduled to be completed in the next few months. Perhaps for our next visit.
So we drove 38 Kms. to the city of Asti and walked thru the old town until we reached Via Ottolenghi, named for Count Leonetti Ottolenghi who donated the money for the Synagogue's last renovation in 1889.
The street is in the old area of town and is a very recognizable structure on this narrow and small one block street which formed part of the small Jewish ghetto of 136 Jews from 38 families. It is surrounded by a steel picket fence and the entry gate had heavy padlocks. The phrase "karov Hashem l'chol korav" (Hashem is close to all who approach Him) was embossed above the entry.
The first Jews came to Asti in the 9th century with the majority of the immigration coming in the 1300s from France and Germany. What was quite startling (and this would repeat itself throughout our visits to the other synagogues) was that Asti never had a Jewish population of more than 400 - 450 people and yet this small number of people invested in the creation and maintaining of a very beautiful place of worship.
There are no regular daily hours for visits and everything must be pre-arranged. I wondered how many visitors must have walked thru Asti, had seen the shul and then had no way to get inside. As the day went on, the same story was repeated over and over again. These are historical gems and yet gaining entry takes work and preparation. Of all the 8 shuls we visited on Tuesday and Wednesday, there was only one in Casale Monferrato that seemed to have regular hours and to be open for visitors who just showed up.
We met a local woman who is entrusted with allowing pre-arranged visitors in for tours and there was a school visit scheduled that morning. When we entered the building, there was a small lobby which contained signs from yesteryear indicating the times for weekday prayers and for Shabbat services. Baruch then unlocked the door to the sanctuary and invited us inside the main sanctuary.
The first development of the synagogue of Asti on a much smaller scale dates back to 1601 and it was extended to its current footprint between 1838 and 1840. It originally had a central bimah situated in the centre of the four tall marble columns, with seating perpendicular to the Aron which was the style in Italian synagogues of that era.
The Ottolenghi financed remodelling in 1889 changed the form to be more church like with the bimah moved to the front and the seating all facing the Aron.
Asti together with the nearby communities of Moncalvo and Fossano all shared a similar nussach, called AFAM from the rashei teivot (first letters) of the three communities, which was a combination of French, Provençal and Ashkenazi rituals. They spoke a unique language which was a Hebrew Piedmont dialect. And until today, the tunes used in the various Italian synagogues differ from each other and certainly from the traditional Ashkenazi tunes; the liturgy has its own text called Italki and is unlike Sefardi or Ashkenazi Nussach.
Baruch showed us a major difference in the opening tefillah of Maariv for Friday night prayers.
We drove to our next community, Carmagnola, 61 Kms from Asti. Unlike Asti, this synagogue was totally unrecognizeable as we walked down the narrow street.
Baruch pointed it out to us as the top floor of a normal three storey residential building. We entered the shul of Carmagnola on the main floor, which contains a museum of all the shuls in Piedmont with building plans, scale models, articles about the shuls and Jewish artifacts from the area. One of the unique items was a small pair of tefillin which appeared to defy the requirement of square lines in the tefillin construction.
Jews first came to Carmagnola in the mid 1400s. The Jewish community reached its peak population in the 1800s with a grand total of 171 members. There was a small Jewish ghetto consisting of two blocks with 10 families. Today there are no Jews but a beautiful classic Italian synagogue.
We climbed the stairs to the top floor and entered the shul. We were not prepared for the amazing artistry of this shul.
In the centre of the room is the bimah or tevah, an octagon structure constructed of inlaid and painted wood with twisted columns holding an ornate wooden cupola above it. The Aron has a similar style with gold leafed ornate carvings and twisted columns surrounding the panelled wooden doors of the Aron.
We opened the doors to the Aron and the inside doors were beautiful gold leafed wood carvings depicting the various vessels of the mishkan and the Beit Hamikdash.
Surrounding the room are plaques with intricate carved wooden framing that contain biblical phrases that have hidden in them the names of various donors to the synagogue.
It was a beautiful shul in its time and still is today; unfortunately there is no one in Carmagnola to appreciate its value and beauty.
We will continue our day in our next post, Italy - Day 2 - Shul Hopping in Piedmont Part 2
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