Ghetto Ebraico

Following the street that runs along the main square, you arrive at the 14th century Jewish ghetto, known as “Le Spiagge” – the Beaches. This area is called “the beaches” because the sun shines on it all day long. A Jewish ghetto was located in this area from the 13th century on. It was one of the most important in the Fermo area. At the time all the houses and workshops were connected by internal passageways. Only a few can still be seen. You can see architectural remnants of a synagogue:in the wall of a building there is an arch whose size suggests it was the entrance to a holy place. The occupations of the Jews in Monterubbiano were the production of textiles and leather tanning. In the first half of the 16th century a financial crisis struck the town and to overcome it Monterubbiano’s town council had to sell a parcel of land to Montefiore dell’Aso. The date was 6 September 1547 and as the new boundary between the two towns was established at the Aso River, the council declared “ne ossa communis devorentur ad hebreis” , “the Town’s bones will not be devoured by the Jews”.