NEWS Italian Jews and Italy

By Rossella Tercatin

The president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Renzo Gattegna, met with the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, last week. During the meeting which took place at the Quirinale Palace (the official residence of the president), Gattegna spoke about the history and the role of the Jewish community in Italy and expressed his gratitude for Mattarella’s acts, such as mentioning Stefano Gaj Taché (the 2-year-old who was killed in front of the Great Synagogue of Rome in 1982) as the symbol of the fight against terrorism.

Among the other topics discussed by Mattarella and Gattegna were the fight against racism, the importance of education and culture, the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and the cooperation between Italian authorities and Jewish institutions in many fields, including security.