A Tale of Two Cities: The Medici & the Jews

Podcast: Jewish History Soundbites · Yehuda Geberer

Opublikowano: 2026-10-24

The prominent Medici banking family ruled Florence for most of the time between 1400’s-1700’s. Under their rule the Jews of Florence flourished as moneylenders, bankers, physicians, commercial traders and engaged in the arts in Renaissance Florence. The Medici’s eventually segregated Florence’s Jews into a ghetto in 1571, adding further discrimmanatory restrictions as time went on. On the other hand, the Medici rulers had an incentive to develop the nearby city of Livorno into a Medittereanean port city. To this end they invited Jewish merchants and commercial traders to settle there with a wide range of privileges. With no restr...