CULTURE – Emilia Romagna’s Jewish heritage gets new portal

Giving visibility to the Jewish heritage of Emilia-Romagna. Promoting its knowledge. Building connections between places, institutions, and people. These are the goals of the new portal, www.beniebraiciemiliaromagna.it The Emilia-Romagna Region promoted and the Bologna Jewish Museum coordinated the project that aims at preserving memory and valorizing contemporary Jewish cultural heritage. The platform offers descriptions of more than thirty places, such as synagogues, cemeteries, museums, and archives, along an itinerary that combines the main cities of Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena with smaller centers, such as Soragna or Finale Emilia.

“This portal is not just a virtual container of information that might be found elsewhere, but it aims to become something that is missing: a meeting point for Emilia-Romagna institutions that want to examine their Jewish heritage of objects and knowledge. The goal is to bring this heritage into dialogue with the heritage of other institutions and, above all, share it with citizens. For the public, the portal will serve as a valuable cultural and tourism resource,” said Guido Ottolenghi, president of the Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (MEIS).

“This year, we increased our collaboration with the Bologna Jewish Museum. This led us to become part of this network. We intend to contribute by widely disseminating our activities and collaborating to promote the region’s Jewish heritage. Our spaces will serve as a hub for study, research, and public engagement,” said Amedeo Spagnoletto, director of the MEIS in Ferrara.

Marco Felicori, the councilor for Culture of the Emilia-Romagna Region, also emphasized the value of collaboration between public institutions and cultural organizations. The Bologna Jewish Museum’s scientific direction is leading the work on the portal, bringing together expertise in museums, archives, and project management developed over more than twenty years of activity.

Translated by Alessia Tivan and revised by Matilde Bortolussi, students at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, trainees in the newsroom of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.