Sinagoga & Museo di Storia E Arte Ebraica

Lonely Planet review

This late-19th-century synagogue is a fanciful structure with playful Moorish and even Byzantine elements. Although Florence was home to a Jewish community since at least the 14th century, serious discussion on the building of an appropriate temple only began around 1850, after the town authorities had definitively dropped all discriminatory regulations against the Jews.

The playfulness of the exterior of the synagogue that resulted is matched inside by the prayer hall, sumptuously (if a little gloomily) decorated with Arabesques and held together by Moorish-style arches. Up on the top floor is the small museum. You can see Jewish ceremonial objects and some old codices, as well as follow the story of Florence's Jews down through the centuries. There are also various photos and models that transmit something of the appearance of the old centre of town, which was destroyed to make way for Piazza della Repubblica - it was in this area that Florence's ghetto had long been located.