\u201cCollecting fragments of a history long more than 2000 years in the wings of a museum, or within an evocative multimedia exhibition, it is not just an ambitious project \u2013 it is a due act of gratitude towards a community which contributed, factually and not, in building the city that once was the capital of Southern Italy\u201d.Nico Pirozzi, journalist, writer and a great expert in local Jewish matters, is promoting a new venture: the foundation of a Shoah and Judaism in Southern Italy documentation centre, which was presented on the symbolic date of 25th April (Liberation Day) in Fusaro\u2019s Borbonic Park during a press conference held by promoting institutions Jewish Community of Naples, Bacoli city council, and \u201cMemoriae \u2013 Shoah Museum\u201d Association.
\n\u201cNaples, the Mediterranean\u2019s door, has been for centuries one of the most densely populated and culturally vibrant cities of the Old World, along with Paris and London. It is one of the reasons why its port was the most important landing point in the Mediterranean\u201d, Pirozzi recalls in presenting his venture. \u201cThat was the case for Jewish merchants, reaching the shadows of Vesuvius to trade but also, attracted by the favorable climate and people\u2019s empathy, to live, as the many accounts preserved until the present day tell us\u201d.
\nA peaceful meeting of cultures which will be often threatened. From the exile of the early Sixteenth century, signing the break in a long-lasting history of dialogue and engagement, to the most recent Nazi-fascist persecutions. To that last topic will be dedicated a particular section of the museum, located in \u201can old freight car of the Royal Railway, placed in a flowerbed of the Borbonic park\u201d.
\nFrom this perspective, Pirozzi continues, \u201cwe thought more of a sensorial experience, liable to drag the guest right to the heart of Hell, rather than a museum. The aim is to leave a permanent mark, with a clearly educational purpose, in the mind of the guest\u201d.
\nThe chosen setting is not accidental: \u201cFrom Bacoli\u2019s waters, that water always identified with life, in the summer of 1946 an old and battered sailboat \u2013 Ideros-Amiram Shochat \u2013 set sail with some of the founders of the Israeli state on board, starting their journey towards a new life. Hundreds of men and women, survivors of the hardships of the Nazi lagers, that here in Bacoli, for several months, found not only a roof over their head (MechorBaruch\u2019Kibbutz) but also the warmth that only a community of people knowing the meaning of solidarity can offer\u201d.
\nMayor Jose Della Ragione, president of Naples Jewish Community Lydia Schapirer, rabbi Ariel Finzi, president of Ente Autonomo Volturno, Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of Campania Journalists\u2019 Unitary Union, Claudio Silvestri, president of the Union of the Israeli-Italy Associations Giuseppe Crimaldi and Antonio d\u2019Amore, general director of the North Naples sanitary district were also in attendance of the press conference.<\/p>\n