NOW AVAILABLE!
JEWS AND MAGIC IN MEDICI FLORENCE
THE SECRET WORLD OF BENEDETTO BLANIS
University of Toronto Press - Toronto Italian Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: THE PIAZZA
CHAPTER TWO: THE PALACE
The Medici Family – Palazzo Pitti – Don Giovanni dei Medici – Benedetto Blanis at Court
CHAPTER THREE: THE GHETTO
Benedetto at Home – The Blanis Family – The Creation of the Ghetto – Segregation, Conversation, and Confusion – Ghetto Government – Benedetto’s Neighbors
CHAPTER FOUR: THE SYNAGOGUE
The Synagogue as It Was – On the Bench – Men of Authority – Quarrels and Dissension – Italians and Levantines
CHAPTER FIVE: MEMORY AND SURVIVAL
The Jewish Year – Home and Family – Observance – Justice and Commandments
CHAPTER SIX: THE MARKET
Shopping – Market and Ghetto – Blanis and Sons – Stolen Goods – Scrocchi Barocchi – Rich Jews
CHAPTER SEVEN: KNOWLEDGE AND POWER
Books – Tree of Kabbalah – Medicean Planets – Silver, Gold, and Grappa – The Fish Pond
CHAPTER EIGHT: GAMES OF CHANCE
Porta al Prato – Risky Business – Jew Made Christian
CHAPTER NINE: THE MIRROR OF TRUTH
On the Road – Venice – The Mirror of Truth – At Home with Livia and Don Giovanni – Fire at the Fair – Florence
CHAPTER TEN: THE MAGIC CIRCLE
Fellow Travellers – The Late Cosimo Ridolfi – The Workshop – The Apprentice
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CURIOUS AND FORBIDDEN BOOKS
Passover and Easter – Days of Scruples – Holy Cross – Bad Jew – Business as Usual (I) – Divine Favours – Jews and Converts – Business as Usual (II)
CHAPTER TWELVE: PRISON
Misery and Woe – Beginning of the End – Cosmic Battle – Out of Sight and out of Mind
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: HABEAS CORPUS?
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Illustration: Florence, The Former Ghetto in the Late Nineteenth Century (before demolition)
