Before the Ghetto

The Medici and the Segregation of the Jews in Sixteenth-Century Tuscany

edited by Piergabriele Mancuso

Book cover: Before the Ghetto

Extent: 278 pages

Publisher: Harvey Miller

Subjects: Early Modern & Renaissance Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Medici Archive Project

Series volume number: 8

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9781915487001

Price: $175.00

Out of stock

In 1570, Cosimo I de’ Medici ordered the segregation of Tuscan Jews within the city. This volume examines this pivotal moment in Tuscan Jewish history and presents the first annotated edition of the official documents that led to the community’s urban segregation.


Established by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1570, the ghetto was officially justified by claims of repeated Jewish violations of canon laws (condotte) and banking regulations. However, a comprehensive investigation conducted by the Magistrato Supremo (1568-1570) found such infractions to be rare, minor, and isolated, insufficient to justify sweeping restrictions. At the time, Tuscany’s Jewish community, about 700 individuals dispersed across the duchy, had strong social and professional ties with the Christian majority, particularly through Jewish moneylenders who provided affordable credit to the lower classes. In truth, the ghetto’s creation stemmed from an ideological and bureaucratic process that framed even minor Jewish transgressions as serious threats to Jewish-Christian separation. Carlo Pitti, the powerful Medici chancellor and a staunch opponent of Jewish presence in Tuscany, played a key role. He promoted the ghetto as a political achievement aligning the Medici state with the Counter-Reformation Church and as a profitable investment for the ruling elite. This volume explores this pivotal moment in Tuscan Jewish history, offering the first annotated edition of the official documents that led to the community’s urban segregation.

  • Edited by Piergabriele Mancuso