The Virtual Jewish History Tour By Rebecca Weiner Jewish
merchants, doctors and bankers began settling in Florence in the
late 14th and early 15th centuries. In 1396, the Commune of
Florence permitted Jews to practice banking in Florence. An
assembly of the Jews of Italy met in Florence in 1428 and
gathered funds to give to Pope Martin V in return for his
protection. City authorities requested Jewish bankers in 1430
because they believed that they would be easier to control than
their Christian counterparts. In 1437, the Jewish community was
officially established because of the need for Jewish
moneylenders in the city. The fate of the Jewish community was
tied to the fate of the Medici family in Florence. Lorenzo il
Magnifico defended the Jewish community from expulsions and from
the aftermath of vitriolic sermons given by Bernardino da
Feltre. A Catholic theocracy was installed in the 1490's under
the Dominican friar Girolama Savonarola, who decreed that both
the Jews and the Medici family be expelled from