CHIERI

CHIERI, town in Piedmont, Northern Italy. Jewish physicians and bankers living in Chieri, who formed the nucleus of a small Jewish settlement, are mentioned in documents from 1417 onward. In 1552, the segre family received an exclusive concession to engage in moneylending. They remained the most prominent Jewish family in Chieri through the 17th century. Joseph b. Gershom Conzio of Asti established a small Hebrew press in which he (and after his death his son Abraham) printed between 1626 and 1632 some dozen items, mostly by J. Conzio himself, but also including Isaac Lattes' Perush Ma'amar she-be-Midrash Rabbah (1629). In 1724, a ghetto was established in Chieri on the instructions of the dukes of Savoy; the community numbered about 70 persons. In 1797, after the first occupation by French revolutionary forces, an attempt was made by a mob to sack the ghetto; members of the community established an annual celebration on the New Moon of Av to commemorate their escape. During the French hegemony, the Jews were granted equal civic rights, and David Levi became deputy mayor. A period of reaction followed after 1815, but in 1848 the Jews of Chieri, with the rest of those of Piedmont, received complete emancipation. The community, which numbered about 150 in the mid-19th century, ceased to exist in the early 20th century. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Montù, in: Vessillo lsraelitico, 48 (1900), 405–7; 49 (1901), 127–9; Colombo, in: RMI, 27 (1961), 63–66; Tedesco, ibid., 172–8; Servi, in: Corriere Israelitico, 8 (1869/70), 193f.; D.W. Amram, Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy (1909), 393; H.B. Friedberg, Toledot ha-Defus ha-Ivri be-Italyah… (19562), 85; Roth, in: HUCA, 10 (1935), 464f. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Levi, Una famiglia ebrea, Ivrea: Bolognino (1999). (Daniel Carpi)