ABSTRACT This article examines the transformation of the Jewish community of Modena from emancipation to the early twentieth century, focusing on the shifting relationship between civic integration, communal continuity, and the redefinition of Jewish identity. Bringing together economic, political, social, demographic, and urban perspectives, it explores how Modena’s Jews participated in the civic and economic transformation of the post-Unification city, while confronting the enduring legacies of segregation and the less visible forms of prejudice that accompanied formal equality. Particular attention is paid to the construction and subsequent transformation of the synagogue and the former ghetto, as well as to legal controversies and the emergence of Zionist mobilization at the turn of the century. The article suggests that emancipation should not be understood as a linear transition from segregation to integration, or from distinctiveness to assimilation, but rather as an ongoing process of negotiation between different forms of belonging. The history of Modena thus illuminates the complex ways in which Italian Jews participated in the making of the modern city while rearticulating communal ties, Jewish identity, and collective responsibility within a changing national and European context.
issue 29 / n.1 (2026)
