Sinagoga di Pesaro

Pesaro's surviving synagogue is concealed behind a plain façade on Via delle Scuole, a street whose name preserves the Italian-Jewish term for a synagogue. The sixteenth-century building, remodelled in later centuries, retains ritual spaces below and a stuccoed prayer hall above.

Why it matters

Pesaro once had three synagogues; this building is the survivor. Its discreet exterior reflects the synagogue's place within the historic ghetto, while the interior preserves elements of Jewish ritual life. The ground floor contains a bread oven, a mikveh and a well; the prayer hall above retains its stucco ceiling and the arrangement of the ark and pulpit.

What to notice

The façade has two entrances, one associated with the men's section and a smaller one with the women's section. The ground floor preserves the oven used for unleavened bread, the ritual bath and a well. The upper-floor prayer hall was arranged with the Holy Ark facing the tevah, or pulpit platform. The stucco ceiling includes rosettes and oak garlands, an emblem of the della Rovere family. Furnishings no longer in the building were transferred elsewhere: the ark is in Livorno, the pulpit balcony in Ancona and the women's-gallery grilles in Jerusalem.

Context and history

Jewish life in Pesaro flourished under the dukes of Urbino, and Jewish families followed Guidobaldo II della Rovere when he moved his court to the city. After the duchy passed to the Papal States, a ghetto was established in 1632 and remained until 1797. The surviving synagogue dates to the sixteenth century and was remodelled in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is identified as the Italian-rite synagogue; an older Italian-rite building on Via delle Zucchette closed when the ghetto was established, while a Sephardic synagogue on Via delle Scuole was demolished in 1957 after earthquake damage.