Library opening hours:
Monday and Thursday, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
(Renzo Bandinelli–Liana Funaro)
Appointments are mandatory. Please book by contacting: archivioebiblioteca@firenzebraica.it
For other inquiries, please call the Office at +39 055 245252.
We welcome you to the website of the library and archival collections of the Jewish Community of Florence.
From this page, links will soon be available to carry out research and access the online catalogues and digitized materials, both for the ARCHIVE and the LIBRARY.
The Library of the Jewish Community of Florence is composed of three main sections: the “Myriam Michelini Rotondò” Library, with a particular focus on the Shoah and contemporary Israeli literature; the “Belgrado Collection,” which includes volumes that belonged to Rabbi Fernando Belgrado z”l; and the historic library of the Rabbinical College, which includes rather ancient volumes (dating back as far as the 16th century).
Many of these were damaged in the 1966 flood; after an extensive restoration project, they are now accessible again, both physically and online, thanks to participation in the ITALYA project.
The Historical Archive of the Jewish Community of Florence preserves to this day a substantial and highly significant body of documents, both as a direct testimony to the well-established Jewish presence in the Tuscan territory and as an essential resource for historical research.
It consists of more than 100 registers and 600 archival files. Although the largest portion of the documentation dates back to the 19th and 20th centuries, the oldest document is dated 1576.
Over time, the Archive has undergone several relocations and reorganization efforts, which have altered its original arrangement. Since the 1980s, its preservation has been overseen by a team of volunteers coordinated by Lionella Viterbo. Since 2022, under the direction of the Archival Superintendency for Tuscany, a project of reordering, cataloguing, and digitizing the documentary material has been underway.
The Archive and the Library are open on Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Appointments are required and must be booked by emailing archivioebiblioteca@firenzebraica.it or by calling +39 055 245252.
In cases of documented necessity, special opening hours may be arranged; please contact us by email.
Access to the Archive and consultation of the Rabbinical College collection are permitted only in the presence of staff.
I-TAL-YA Books is an ambitious project aimed at creating a digital catalogue of approximately 35,000 Italian Jewish literary works, spanning from the 16th century to 1960, originating from various communities and institutions.
This catalogue, hosted by the National Central Library of Rome (BNCR), will be a valuable resource for researchers and scholars worldwide. The project is a collaboration between the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI), the National Central Library of Rome, and the National Library of Israel. The website provides access to the catalogue, information about the project, and articles exploring the history of these texts and their cultural significance.
At the following link, you can find the digitized scans from the Archive of the Library of the Jewish Community of Florence and from the National Library of Italian Judaism “Tullia Zevi”: