Sinigaglia family

The Sinigalia family is one of the oldest Jewish families in Italy with roots of more than 400 years. The family is of Sephardic heritage.

Sinigalia: Italian family from Sinigaglia later settled in Scandiano, where Solomon Jediah Senigaglia ("Bet Talmud" was rabbi and "mohel" in 1639. Later he went to Modena.

The Principal Family members and genealogical tree are as follows:

H'annael GraziaDio SINIGAGLIA (M) 1470 AD
Salomone SINIGAGLIA (M)
Simon SINIGAGLIA (M)
Solomon Jedidiah SINIGAGLIA (M) 1600)
Beniamino SINIGAGLIA (M)
(1) Abram Vita SINIGAGLIA (M)
(4) Moise Elljah SINIGAGLIA (M)
Isach SINIGAGLIA (M) (1750)
(5) Salomon Jedidiah SINIGAGLIA (M) (1775)
________________________________________________
| Rita Levi (F) ETTORE SINIGAGLIA (M) (2)Abraham Vita
___________________________

Eugenia SINIGAGLIA's (F) (~1920)
Marco Foa (M) (1948) ________________|______________________________________
| | Olivia Foa (F) (1974) Daniel Foa (M)(1976) Roberto Foa (M)

The History before 1470 is unclear but probably Spain which the Sinigaglia family left because of the inquisition.

1. Abraham Vita Sinigaglia: Rabbi of Modena in the first half of the eighteenth century: died at an early age. He was a pupil of Menahem of Cracow and of Ephraim Cohen. He wrote (1) Dibre ha-Yamin" a diary, the first volume of which comprised the years of 1722-31 and the second 1732-33; (2) Novellae on the Mishmah (Berakot, 1719-21: Shabbat and Hullin, 1726; Makkot and Baba Kamma, 1729, 'Abodah Zarah, 1730; Pesahim and Sukkah, 1732).

2. Abraham Vita Sinigaglia: Rabbi; born at Modena in the eighteenth century, died there in the following century; grandson of preceding. He Pursued his studies under his father, Solomon Jedidiah (mo.5) and Ishmael Cohen. He left numerous unpublished novellae.

3. Jacob Samson Shabbethai SinigaliaRabbinical author: born in Ancona: died in Sinigalia 1840, son of Raphael Isschar Sinigalia. He was the pupil of Abrahman Israel, rabbi of Ancona and was the author of preface to the sermons (Se'uddat Mizwah') or Daniel Terni. Rabbi at Florence (Venice, 1791; 'Shabbat shel Mi' (Leghorn, 1807), 'Talmudic novellae; "Ya'akob Le-Hok," commentary on the "Hok le-Yisrael" by Jacob Baruk (ib 1807); "Abir Ya'akob" (Pisa 1811), Talmudic novellae; "Nezir Simshon" (ib 1813); "Mattat Elohim" (ib 1821); "Mattan ba-Seter" (Leghorn 1843); "Meged Shamayin" (ib 1844) reponsa. He left, besides, the following manuscript works "Kashya Sefa", responsa: "Leshon Limmudim", "Shomer Shabbat", and "Midbar Zin"

4. Moses Elijah Sinigaglia: Rabbi of Modena; born in that city 1763; died there in 1849; a pupil of his father, Solomon Jedidiah Sinigaglia (No.5) and of Ismael Cohen. He taught for fifty years in Modena, and toward the end of his life was appointed rabbi of that place. He left in manuscript forty-two sermons and novellae, besides responsa, some of which were included in the responsa collection of Elishama Meir Padovani.

5. Solomon Jedidiah Sinigalia: Rabbi of Modena in th eighteenth century; born and died in that city. He was a teacher of Elishama Meir Padovani, and was the author of various Hebrew poems, some published and others unpublished, several of which are contained in the "Tikkun Hazot" (Leghorn, 1800). He left in manuscript also a grammatical treatise, sermons, and responsa.

Bibliography: Furst Bibl Jud iii 339-340; Nepi-Ghirondi Takdot Gedolc Yisrael, pp. 34, 48, 228, 330, 341; Motara Indice p 62.

Overall source - Jewish Encyclopedia vol XI (N Y - Londra 1901-1906)

During World War II, persecutions were more individual than collective in character. The Germans and eventually the Italian Fascists demanded tributes to allow the Jews to live. After the war 400 Jews were left there, and the number had dropped to 300 in 1969Source - http://www.bh.org.il/Communities/Archive/ancona.asp

More recently family members have been professors at Bologna University and others located in Genova, London, US, China and South America

Background about the town of Senigallia and relationship with the Jewish community

Town on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Jewish loan bankers made their appearance their in the 14th Century. As a result of Church pressure, the anti-Jewish decrees imposed in the second half of the 16th century were enforced in Senigallia also, when the town was under the rule of the Della Rovere family. In 1631 the town came under the direct rule of the popes with the rest of the duchy of Urbino; three years later a ghetto was instituted for the 40 families. During the next century and a half, the Jewish population trebled; many Jews also attended Sinigallia's famous fair. In 1789 there were about 600 Jews living in the town. Taking advantage of the temporary withdrawal of the French occupying forces in 1799, the populace sacked the ghetto, killed 13 Jews and drove the rest into temporary exile. In 1870 around 300 Jews lived in Senigallia. In 1969 there were 30 Jews living in Senigallia who were considered as a part of the Ancona community.

Bibliography: Roth, in HUCA 10 (1935), 468-71, Milano Bibliotheca, index

Related Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leone_Sinigaglia

Leone Sinigaglia (born Turin, 14 August 1868; died Turin, 16 May 1944) was an Italian composer and mountaineer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinigaglia - Overall Town intro

http://www.italian-family-history.com/jewish/_Ancona.html

http://www.sinigaglia.org/

http://www.guidobono.com.ar/aqwg08.htm

Yasca Sinigaglia - http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808864072 Riccardo Sinigaglia - http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.Channel&ChannelID=232022731

Vittorio Sinigaglie - in Sept 1943 participated in the war of liberalisation against the fascists in the battle of Pian d'Albero thus helping liberate Florence.Source - http://lavoropolitico.it/currgracci.htm (In Italian)

If any Italian speakers have time, this could be a good content source: http://www.racine.ra.it/curba/studenti/materialeStud/ebrei/sinigalia.htm