The Jewish ghetto

In 1773, in accordance with the new royal provisions, the Jewish community of Savigliano ? the oldest in Piedmont ? was forced to abandon its settlement, situated between the northern end of Piazza Santa Rosa and Via Alfieri. The new Jewish ghetto was housed in buildings owned by Count Michele Derossi di Pomerolo e Santa Rosa, situated on the east side of what is now Via Palestro. It was an urban area that was more remote than the previous one, a space that could easily be closed off and isolated. To the west, near the old bastions, and to the east towards Via Cambiani, the ghetto was separated from the remaining part of the settlement by a specially built wall. In the district know as ?del ghetto? ? now Via Palestro ? two gates built to the north and south were closed at nightfall and opened in the morning.
In 1806 the Jewish community of Savigliano was composed of 159 people and worked mainly to the trade of fabrics and used clothing. Suppressed under Napoleon and then revived, the ghetto was home to 144 Jews in 1829: 64 men and 80 women. The synagogue, no trace of which remains, was on the third floor of a building in the ghetto.
Following the concessions of the Albertine Statute of 1848 abolishing ghettoes, numerous families emigrated, mainly to Turin. The synagogue was moved close to the civic theatre. The venue was then demolished by the municipal government in order to restructure the theatre and the synagogue was housed where the local paper, Il Saviglianese, is now located and was accessed from Via Palestro.
In the 1890s the Jewish community gradually dwindled, leaving very few people. The synagogue, no longer officiated, was dismantled in the years that followed.