Moses Basola

Moses Basola’s place of birth is unknown; he lived in many places before settling in Ancona, Italy, where he served as head of the local yeshiva. In 1560, he left for the land of Israel, where he died that same year. He was also a businessman who shared ownership of a bank with his son. In his Masa‘ot erets Yisra’el (Travels in the Land of Israel), Basola recorded his impressions from an earlier journey to the land of Israel, which he took in the years 1521 to 1523. The book was first published anonymously in Livorno, Italy in 1785.