TRIESTE Origin of surname

Trieste

A city in Friuli Venezia Giulia region in northeastern Italy. 

Jews may have lived there before the end of the 14th century, but there is no authoritative information. After the city's annexation to Austria in 1382 Jews from Germany settled there; some were subject to the dukes of Austria and some to the local rulers. Jews soon took the place of Tuscan moneylenders in the economic life of the city. During the middle ages they were engaged in loan-banking and trade; in the 14th century one of them served as the official city banker in the town hall. The Jewish banker Moses and his brother Cazino, who lived in the Rione del Mercato, are mentioned in 1359. The Jews tended to live in the Riborgo neighborhood, then the civic and commercial center. During the middle ages they were

The 15th century was a period of development for the small Jewish community. Two Jewish bankers dominated the period; Salomone D'oro and Isacco da Trieste. In 1509 the emperor Maximilian I granted to Isacco the position of schutzjude, or the protected Jew. It is important to stress the position of Jewish women, who sometimes directed the family's banking establishment. As in the other imperial possessions, Jews were obliged to wear the yellow badge. In 1583 there was an abortive attempt to expel the Jews.

During the 17th century Trieste's patriciate took an unfavorable stand towards the Jews, asking the imperial authorities for their expulsion. The imperial authorities resisted the pressure and the Jews were not expelled. However, in 1695 the 11 Jewish families in the city, around 70 people, were enclosed in the so-called Old Ghetto, or Trauner Ghetto. The Jews petitioned the authorities successfully for healthier site, and in 1696 the Jewish ghetto was erected in the Riborgo neighborhood, near the harbor.

However, by the middle of the 18th century Jews had again begun to live outside the ghetto. At that time they were traders and craftsmen and some of them were factors to the Austrian court. Emperor Joseph II's Toleranzpatent of 1781 gave legal sanction to the gradually improving condition of the Jews in Trieste, and in 1785 the gates of the ghetto were destroyed. In 1746 the Universita degli Ebrei, or Jewish community, was constituted. In this period there were 120 Jews living in Trieste. The most important families were the Morpurgo, Parente, Levi, and Luzzatto. In the same year the first synagogue was erected, the so-called Scuola Piccola. Maria Theresa permitted the richest Jewish families to live outside the ghetto. Moreover, Marco Levi, head of the community, received the title of Hoffaktor in 1765. In 1771 Maria Theresa granted a series of privileges to the Nazione Ebrea.

In the 18th century Jews were traders and craftsmen and some of them were factors to the Austrian court. One of the most distinguished scholars of the mid-18 century was Rabbi Isacco Formiggini. Emperor Joseph II in 1782 gave legal sanction to the gradually improving conditions of the Jews in Trieste, and in 1785 the gates of the ghetto were destroyed. There were around 670 Jews in 1788. In 1775 the Scuola Grande or the Great Synagogue was erected, the building also included a Sephardi synagogue.

The rabbis and scholars of the community, from the 17th to Isaac Formiggini, Mordechai Luzzatto, Raphael Nathan Tedeschi, joseph Hezekiah Gallico, Abraham Eliezer Levi, Rahel Morpurgo (the poetess), Vittorio Castiglioni, A. Curiel, and H. P. Chajes. Samuel David Luzzatto ("shadal"), was a native of Trieste. The writer Italo Svevo lived in Trieste which was the locale of his novels. Il Corriere Israelitico, a Jewish newspaper in Italian, was published in Trieste from 1862 to 1915.

In 1796 the community inaugurated a Jewish school under the chief rabbi Raffael Nathan Tedesco. This school was in part inspired by the proposals of N.H. Wessely. The first Hebrew work printed in Trieste was Samuel Romanelli's Italian-Hebrew grammar, published in 1799. Tedesco was followed by Abramo Eliezer Levi, who was the chief rabbi of Trieste between 1802 and 1825. In 1800 1,200 Jews lived in Trieste.

The 19th century was the golden age of Trieste Jewry. During that time, some members of the community played an active part in the Risorgimento and the irredentist struggle which culminated in Trieste becoming part of Italy in 1919. Trieste Jews, such as writer Italo Svevo and the poet Umberto Saba, were central in creation of the Italian intellectual world. Il Corriere Israeliticom, a Jewish newspaper in Italian, was published in Trieste from 1862 to 1915. In the 1850s some Hebrew books were printed, including Ghirondi –Neppi's 'Toledot Gedolei Yisrael' (1853). The Jewish printer Jonah Cohen was active in the 1860s. His illustrated Passover Haggadah with and without Italian translation (1864) was a memorable production.

The number of Jews increased gradually in the 19th century. In 1848 there were around 3,000 Jews, in 1869 there were 4,421, and in 1910, 5,160 Jews lived in Trieste. The monumental new synagogue in Via Donizzetti opened in 1912 and it was inaugurated by chief rabbi Zvi Perez Chajes. It followed the Ashkenazi rite. After World War I Trieste was the main port for Jews from Central and Eastern Europe who immigrated to Erez Israel.

According to the census of 193, the Jewish community of Trieste had 4,671 members. Census data for 1938 recorded 5,381 Jews in Trieste, belonging for the most part to the lower and middle sectors of the middle class. The racial laws at the end of 1938 caused an initial period of disorientation, including many conversions, the withdrawal of membership of many community leaders and members, and the emigration of most foreign Jews. In October 1941, the first visible acts of intimidation occurred. Temples were defaced with anti-Semitic slogans and red ink. Vandalism and violence recurred in July 1942 when several fascist squads devastated the temple and assaulted defenseless passers-by, shops were sacked, and by then, the Jewish community of Trieste had no more than 2,500 members.

During the holocaust the Nazis executed raids against the Jewish population on October 9, 1943 and January 20, 1944, the latter against aged and ill people in the gentilome home. Jews who were recovering in hospitals throughout the city, including a hospital for the chronically ill were seized. After being arrested, the Jews were taken to the Coroneo prison and to the Risiera di San Sabba, the only concentration camp with a crematorium in Italy. From October 1943 to February 1945, about 60 convoys left Trieste, all headed for the concentration camps of Central and Eastern Europe. According to estimates, 708 Jews were from Trieste, and only 23 returned. Some Jews from Trieste joined the partisans and died in combat. The number of those who were converted to Catholicism in that period was very high, in comparison with other Jewish communities in Italy. During the struggle to liberate Italy, Rita Rosani, a Trieste-born Jewish partisan was particularly distinguished.

After the war about 1,500 Jews remained in Trieste; by 1965 the number had fallen to 1,052, out of a total of 280,000 inhabitants, partly because of the excess of deaths over births. In 1969 the community, numbering about 1,000, had a synagogue and a prayer house of Ashkenazi rite, school, as well as a home for the aged.

In the early 21st century the Jewish population of Trieste was around 600.