The Sephardic Community of Reggio

In 1413, the first Jewish loan bankers settled in Reggio, a town in central Italy, then under the rule of the House of Este. The Jews were welcomed and protected by the ducal house. In 1652, the duke of Modena invited Jews to settle in the duchy, and sixty Sephardic families, largely Iberian New Christians who had returned to Judaism, took up the invitation, most of them settling in Reggio. There they established their own congregation and the town became home to a yeshiva.