Paleographic Aspects of Medieval Hebrew Inscriptions from Bari (Apulia)

The path is inspired by the census, cataloguing and digitizing of the cultural heritage documenting the Jewish presence in Apulia and Basilicata, systematically studied by Cesare Colafemmina. It concerns an immense material and immaterial patrimony – unknown to most people – composed of very heterogeneous cultural pieces of work (monuments, epigraphs, documents, but also immaterial traditions) whose scientific analysis should move along a double path. On the one hand, the humanities, historiography and ethno-anthropology; on the other hand, the technical aspect (with digitization, laser scanning of epigraphs and photogrammetric surveys of monuments, palaeographic method). The fabric of the historic centers is strewn with toponyms referring to “disappeared” giudeccas and synagogues which can be traced through cartography and documents. Besides the great amount of epigraphs which have been found, Apulia and Basilicata are rich in traces of Jewish culture, and literary and poetic sources.

In this context, the Jewish written culture shows great importance.