Voci ebraiche sulla tolleranza religiosa. Pratiche e teorie nella Venezia barocca

This article offers a new insight into the works of famous Venitian rabbis at the outset of the 17th century. Historia de’ riti hebraici and Discorso circa il stato de gl’Hebrei were published in 1637 and 1638 in Venice. The authors, Leone Modena and Simone Luzzatto, were outstanding scholars and rabbis of the lagoon city, where the most ancient ghetto was established. Both these works received international acclaim and were widely circulated within European culture from the 17th to the 20th century. The objective of this article is to interpret these texts within the debate over religious tolerance in early modern Europe, showing that both Modena and Luzzatto presented a number of interesting theories about religious tolerance and the place of Jewry in Christian society.