In Sicily, Jews reach out to Inquisition-era forgotten Jews

Via Judeca

SIRACUSA, Italy (JTA) -- On her deathbed, Salvatore Zurzolo's grandmother confided a long-held secret: Their family was Jewish.

JTA  |  By Alex Weisler

Zurzolo, of Calabria in southern Italy, had been flirting with Judaism for years, ever since choosing to stay with Parisian Jews during a Catholic youth trip to the city when he was 18.

After his grandmother’s confession, Zurzolo contacted the central Italian Jewish community in Rome and asked to begin the conversion process.

"For 20 years I was told it was not possible," Zurzolo said.

But he didn’t give up, keeping kosher, wearing a yarmulke and a Star of David necklace, and visiting Israel 10 times in two decades, according to his account.

Finally, last December, Zurzolo formally converted to Judaism with a dip in the ancient mikvah of Siracusa, Sicily's fourth-largest city and one of Italy’s southernmost municipalities.
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