VITTORIO VENETO,

VITTORIO VENETO, town in N. Italy, formed in 1866 by the union of the two adjacent towns of Serravalle and Ceneda. The presence of Jews in Serravalle is attested in 1398, but nothing is known of their subsequent history. In 1597 Israel di Conegliano was authorized to open a loan-bank in Ceneda; in spite of two expulsion attempts, in 1631 and 1638, the conegliano family remained in the town throughout the 17th century. In the 18th century a number of Jews were enclosed in a small ghetto. There were 45 Jews (11 families) in Ceneda in 1765, out of a total population of 7,946. Their status was then superior to that of the other Jews in Veneto, as shown by the fact that in 1770 they obtained the revocation of a 1767 prohibition to trade in grain. About the second half of the 18th century a "council of Jews" (corpo degli ebrei) was formed, which was comparatively influential at the beginning of the following century, when it included the important Luzzatto, Romanin, Gentili, Fontanella, Valenzin, Conegliano, and Pincherle families. lorenzo da ponte (Conegliano) was born in Ceneda. However, in 1870 only 50 Jews remained in Vittorio Veneto and their number progressively decreased, although there was a Gemilut Ḥasadim society. The cemetery at Vittorio Veneto was not established until the second half of the 19th century; before then the Jewish cemetery of conegliano was used. A private synagogue existed from 1646; it was completely renovated in 1701, in a style similar to the synagogue of Conegliano. It has been transferred to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Milano, Bibliotheca, nos. 1171f., 1418f.; Milano, Italia, index; Roth, Italy, index; idem, Venice (1930), index; J. Pinkerfeld, Battei Keneset be-Italyah (1954), 40; F. Luzzatto, in: RMI, 22 (1956), 42–43, 122–3, 274–5; idem, Cronache storiche della Università degli Ebrei di San Daniele del Friuli (1964), 74, 132; U. Nahon, Aronot Kodesh ve-Tashmishei Kedushah me-Italyah be-Yisrael (1970), 20–26. (Alfredo Mordechai Rabello)