Bergamo:

By: Gotthard Deutsch , Vittore Castiglione

City in northern Italy. Here, as in other cities subject to the government of the Venetian republic, the right of residence was granted to Jews, who were chiefly engaged in money-lending. Documents relating to the Jews, and dating back to 1479, are preserved in the City Library and in the municipal archives. But Jews were certainly in Bergamo before that time. They are found in the large neighboring village, Martinengo, where they could own land and houses ("Archivio di Stato Veneto, Senato, Terra," reg. 16, carte 25). In 1507 a decree was issued compelling Jews to wear a yellow girdle or a red hat. Neither in Bergamo, in Martinengo, nor in any other of the surrounding places are they known to have formed a congregation. They may have had a synagogue and a cemetery, but no traces of these remain. There are no longer any Jews at Bergamo.