Livorno seaside city, free city

Livorno’s thriving port was created virtually from nothing; at the end of the 16th century the Medici government granted them the status of “freet port” promoting business and giving the city a giant economic boost.

In efforts to populate the newborn city, the “Livornese Laws” (1591-1593) were issued that made Livorno a free city and a haven for Sephardic Jews who fled the Iberian Peninsula after the anti-Semitic laws forcing Jews to convert or to abandon the kingdom were passed first in Spain in 1492 and then in Portugal in 1496. Even those who converted, called Marranos, were often investigated under the Inquisition and persecuted.

The city of Livorno offered Jews the right to freely practice Judaism without being unsettled by the Inquisition; there was freedom of study and academic achievement, the right to own real estate and to reside in the community. Livorno was, in fact, the only Italian city where there wasn’t a ghetto, thus Jews were able to work, live, and mingle among the Christians.

The Jews who arrived in Livorno were mainly traders and formed an active Jewish community of Portuguese and Spanish. The Jewish community of Livorno was among the most important in Italy with renowned representatives such as Amedeo Modigliani.

Livorno went on to become one of the main ports of the Mediterranean, its importance reinforced in the 19th Century by the presence of the numerous foreign diplomatic offices in the city. In fact, the United States, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Sweden and the Netherlands all held consulates in Livorno.

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