 Piccolomini's burning down of Skopje in 1688–1689 and a massive fire in Bitola in 1863 significantly diminished the Jewish population in North Macedonia in the two largest Jewish centers.In 1689, the Jewish population of Skopje was 3,000 of the total 60,000 population.The Jewish community was almost entirely Sephardic, and most spoke Ladino at home as opposed to Hebrew.