Italy – Varsano Family Roots

Roman Empire to 12th Century

1391-1492 Arrival to 1541 Departure: Kingdom of Naples

20th Century

One source states that the Varsano name originates from Conversano in Pulia (Puglia), Italy. While Conversano sounds similar to Varsano, it is a different name with an “ver” rather than an ‘var”. It also has the “con” prefix and family names were typically not shorten versions of a common word, but named after a town or place of origin. Some Varsanos may have been Conversos (or Conversanos), who were secret Jews but forced Christian converts. However, there is ample evidence that many Jews from Spain did relocate to Puglia, so it’s very possible that some members of the Varsano family lived there. Puglia, along with much of the southern Italian peninsula lies directly between east coast of Catalan and Salonica where we know the majority of the Varsano family eventually settled.

Italian Geneology add DNA resukts
Among surnames implying roots from Sicily, southern, or central Italy are Adato, Anav, Augustari, de Botton, Capuano, Chimino, Mat‐ alon, Perahia, Piperno, Recanati, Salerno, Sonino, Talbi, Taranto, Varsano, and Ventura. From Article Surnames of Jewish People in the Land of Israel from the Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century by Alexander Beider, Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy Edited by Prof. Dr. Hanoch Daniel Wagner
- Apulia
  - AC: Where did your research began in Apulia?
    
    FL: My first challenge was, along with my students, to try and trace where the Jews migrated to – when they left Apulia… One must keep in mind that by 1400 the Jews in this area were not the descendants of the first Jewish settlers, but rather Jews who had come here later from various places. Some had arrived from Northern Italy, many of them crossed the Adriatic before and after the fall of Byzantium, but the majority had come from Spain. After the 1500’s as the Jews left Apulia, they tended to follow the routes of Sephardic Jews (in flight from Spain and Sicily) and move east toward the Ottoman Empire. Some of those living on the Adriatic Coast had been in contact with the Venetian Republic. The wealthier ones moved to Venice or to the Venetian Islands. Corfu was another favorite destination because of its geographical closeness to Apulia and its close ties to Venice.
  - AC: What are more promising areas of study?
    
    FL: I am fascinated by tracing through manuscripts the movements and linguistic transformations of the Jews of Apulia. For instance trying to figure out who were the local scribes who copied the manuscripts and then looking for similar ones in places like Corfu, Salonika, Istanbul, where we know the Apulians went…. I have attempted to follow these itineraries. The main difficulty lies the fact that in later centuries, coming into contact with Spanish and Ladino speaking Sephardim, the Apulians lost most of their linguistic and cultural specificity.
    
    .
- Calabria
- The first type set Hebrew books in Europe were printed in Reggio by Abraham Garton in 1475.[25] Garton did not use movable type, but used a block page format to print his material. Garton’s works were printed in a Hebrew style known as Rashi Script. Some historians ponder the connection between Garton’s pioneering mass production revolution of Hebrew books and the raise of Ashkenazi prominence in religious scholarship.[26] In the former Jewish quarter of Reggio there is a street named, “Via Ashkenaz”.[27] In addition to the first printed Hebrew book, the first Hebrew commentary on the Hagaddah also appeared in Reggio, in 1482.[28]
  
  A short-lived revival of the Calabrian Jewish communities began after Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish expulsion arrived in 1492. Another wave of Jewish refugees also arrived in Calabria fleeing from the Expulsion of the Jews from Sicily in 1493.[29][30] And Jews from the island of Sardinia also resettled in Calabria after their expulsion as well.[31] In 1510, the first in a series of Jewish expulsions began in Calabria.[32] The final blow to the Calabrian Jews culminated when the Spanish inquisition at last reached Calabria. By 1541, the Roman Catholic Church ordered the last Jews of Calabria to either leave or to convert to Catholicism.[33] For those who could afford to leave, most went to the Greek[34] cities of Arta,[35] Corfu[36] and Thessaloniki,[37] The Calabrian Jews were a sizable block in
  
  the Jewish community of Thessaloniki where they constituted four of the 30 synagogues in the city.[38] A Calabrian Jewish Synagogue, which was located in Constantinople is also known.[39] Four hundred years later, the last direct descendants of the Calabrian Jews living in Greece would perish in the Holocaust[40][41]
  
  As for the rest of Calabrian Jews too poor to emigrate during the Inquisition, they were subjected to a forced conversion, and Jewish houses of worship were converted into churches. For example, the synagogue of Catanzaro was converted to a church dedicated to St. Stefano.[42] The Calabrian converts, many who still secretly practiced Crypto-Judaism, were known in Hebrew as Anusim. Despite their conversion to Catholicism, many converted Jews of Calabria were regularly discriminated against and were forced to live as second class citizens.[43]
  
  During the Middle Ages, Calabria contributed much to the culture of the Jewish people in Europe. Many Jewish scholars, such as Rabbi Hayyim ben Joseph Vital and descendants of the Isaac Abarbanel were known to have come from or resided in Calabria.[44][45][46] Also, the 15th-century Christian Hebraist, Agathius Guidacerius, a well regarded Greek and Hebrew grammatical expert was born in the Calabrian town of Rocca-Coragio.[47]
  
  from Wikipedia: The history of the Jews in Livorno (Leghorn in
  English, Liorne or Liorna in Ladino), Italy has been
  documented since 1583, when descendants of the late
  15th-century expulsions from Spain and Portugal settled
  in the city. They were settled initially by Sephardic Jews
  from Pisa. The Jewish community of Livorno, although
  the youngest among the historic Jewish communities of
  Italy, was for some time the foremost: its members
  achieved political rights and wealth, and contributed to
  scholarship in the thriving port city. Numerous Jewish
  schools and welfare institutions were established.
  
  The first traces of a Jewish settlement are found in documents from about 1583. The Medici family,
  working to promote the growth of the city, its trade, the port, recruited many new settlers from Greece
  and the Ottoman Empire. Spanish Marranos also found a refuge there in 1590. In 1591, and again in
  1593, Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany issued a charter to assure all foreigners
  desiring to settle at Livorno, including Jews, of the most extensive rights and privileges. Many Jews
  were attracted by this promise. The Jewish community of Pisa received the privilege of founding a
  branch at Livorno with a synagogue and cemetery. In 1597, the Jews of Livorno received autonomous
  rights as a community, and they built a synagogue in 1603.h
  
  The rabbinate of Livorno was widely known for its scholarship, as it attracted new learned members
  from the East, and had connections with the Sephardim of Amsterdam and London. Many merchants
  also devoted themselves to study, taking up medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and the classics.
  Through its connection with the East, Livorno was always a center for cabalists, especially at the time
  of the Shabbethaian controversies. In the 19th century, cabalists and mystics still found support in the
  city.
  The Livorno community served as a link between the Spanish and Portuguese Jews and the Eastern
  Sephardi and Mizrahi communities of the Arab Mediterranean nations. It was a clearing house of
  traditions between the two groups. For example, its musical and cantorial tradition, though related to
  those of other Spanish and Portuguese communities, was influenced by Jewish communities all
  around the Mediterranean, to whom in turn the Livorno tradition was exported. Many merchants
  maintained a presence in both Livorno and North African countries such as Tunisia. Those who
  settled permanently in the Ottoman Empire retained their Tuscan or Italian nationality, so as to have
  the benefit of the Ottoman Capitulations. In Tunisia there was a community of Juifs Portugais, or
  L’Grana (Livornese), separate from, and (of course) regarding itself as superior to, the native Tunisian
  Jews (Tuansa).They generally were not
  numerous enough to establish their own synagogues, instead meeting for prayer in each other’s
  
  Many Jews also emigrated to Algeria, Egypt, France and Libya in order to capitalise on their nations’
  foreign investment. In some cases, such as the Mendoza and the Mosseri family, whole families
  moved, thus contributing to development of Jewish communities in primarily Islamic states.
  
  from Cecil Roth History of the Jews of Italy –
  
  1481
  1. Jewish population of Kingdom of Naples is approx. 50,000
  2. Jews added lots of tax revenue to community
  3. Many made loans
  4. Hebrew printing press in Naples in 1490s
  
  1492 – Spanish Expulsion – Jews go to Kingdom of Naples
  – Sicilian Expulsion –
  – Sardinia
  – Abrabanel – prominent Italian Jewish family
  
  October 26, 1496
  1. Royal edict expelling Jews from Naples
  2. Jews remain for 50 years more but only a remnant
  
  1501-1509
  1. Gonzalo da Cordova, “the Great Captain,” military leader for the King
  2. Helped defend Jews which delayed deportations
  November 19, 1510
  1. Banish all “declared” Jews from Calabria
  2. and Apulia by the new Viceroy Raimando de Cardara
  a. Must leave by March 1, 1511
  b. Must take all possessions with them except gold and silver
  3. 200 Jewish families remained for payment of 3000 ducats per year – WHICH
  FAMILIES???
  4. Marranos (secret Jews) were subject to new inquisition
  1513
  1. Many Christians of Jewish stock (Neofiti) were allowed to stay.
  2. In Calabria and Apulia New Christians were living as Jews and maintaining semi-public
  synagogues
  1520
  1. The absence of most Jews hurt the economy
  2. Christian lenders charged much higher interest rates on loans which led to
  3. Relaxation of rules against Jewish lenders
  4. Jews allowed back for annual fairs
  
  May 1541 – Edict of Banishment for Jews
  November 1541
  1. All Jews left
  2. Abrabanels went to Ferrara
  3. Others went to Rome and Papal States
  4. Some to Palestine
  5. Some intercepted by Ragusar pirates and taken prisoner in Marseilles
  
  Apulians had their own dialect and folk songs
  Calabrian Christians suffered from loss of Jews, especially the poor, still feel effects today.
  Salonica
  1. Exiles from Otanto were numerous enough to maintain a special synagogue in Salonica
  where no section of diaspora was unrepresented
  2. Soncino Family: publishing and printing in Lombardo
  3. Naples Salonica, Constantinople
  4. Literature in fine type
  5. Geronimo (Gershom) Soncino
  
  1558
  1. Salonica supports boycott of Port of Ancona and Constantinople Adrianople by Jewish
  merchants
  2. Turkish empire absorbed Italian Jewish refugees
  a. Historic Roman rite synagogues in Salonica, Contantinople, and the Italian
  element in the “Four Holy Cities” of Palestine
  1920s-1930s – Fascist Italian consuls at Salonica encourage descendants of Jews from Italy
  many centuries before to apply for or retain Italian Nationality
  
  From Jews of Italy
  
  The second half of the 15th century saw Jewish immigration into Apulia from other countries. In
  particular the exiles from Spain and Portugal contributed to a short-lived renascence of Jewish
  learning. Isaac *Abrabanel and others composed notable works while staying in Apulia. When in
  1495 the French king Charles VIII occupied the kingdom of *Naples , however, the Jews of
  Apulia were again persecuted; looting and war levies dissipated their resources within a few
  months. The persecutions resulted in widespread conversions and “New Christians who
  converted since the coming of the French” are mentioned in the laws of 1498 of King Frederick
  of Aragon. After the return of the Aragonese dynasty to Naples the Jews enjoyed a few years of
  security, but the conquest of Naples by the Spaniards was followed by renewed suffering. In
  1510–11 the Jews were expelled from Apulia and the entire kingdom of Naples, only 200
  families being allowed to remain. In 1515 the neofiti were also expelled. The grant of limited
  residential and commercial rights to Jews throughout the Neapolitan provinces in 1520 led to the
  reestablishment of a few communities. A new decree of expulsion issued in 1533 was canceled
  shortly before its implementation, but was reissued and finally promulgated in 1540, obliging all
  Jews to leave Apulia the following year. Apulian Jewry as an historical entity thereby came to an
  end. Some of them migrated to central and northern Italy. Others settled in Constantinople,
  Adrianople, Salonika, Arta, Valona, and Corfu, where they founded separate Pugliese (Apulian;
  Heb. פלייסי ,פוליאסי(congregations. The dialect long spoken by the Jews of Corfu contained
  
  The only Modiano to have deserved a mention in the 1904 Jewish
  Encyclopaedia15 was a famous rabbi. His name was Joseph Samuel
  Modiano. This is what the Encyclopaedia had to say about him:
  MODIANO, JOSEPH SAMUEL: Turkish rabbinical author; lived in Salonika
  at the end of the eighteenth century. He belonged to a family originally from
  Modena, Italy, the descendants of which are prominent in financial and
  industrial enterprise in Salonika. He corresponded with Hayyim ben David
  Abulafia, rabbi of Smyrna. Modiano published two works – “Uryan Telitai”
  (Salonika, 1795) and “Rosh Mashbir,” responsa (2 vols, 1821 and 1840)
  The former is a collection of novellas on various Talmudic treatises by
  Nahmani, Ibn Migash, Yom-Tob b’Abraham, R’Samuel b’Isaac of Salonika
  (18th cent), and by Modiano himself. The latter work was published
  posthumously.
  R’Joseph b’Samuel Modiano came from a line of rabbis whose ancestor had
  moved from Italy to Salonika in the 16th century. His grandfather, R’Joseph
  b’Isaac, after whom he was named, was known as “Modillano”, although in
  those days in Ottoman Salonika, most people had no hereditary surname.
  They usually identified themselves by the name of their father; yet other
  people called them “Modillano” to distinguish them from those who had the
  same given names. The practice of using the father’s name for
  identification was the rule in the Ottoman Empire. It was changed in the
  20th century when the Turks were compelled by law to adopt family
  surnames.
  The evidence of the tombstone inscriptions of Salonika indicates that
  the first Modiliano/Modillano must have settled in that city between
  1500 and 1600.
  
  20th Century
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From Memorie di Famiglia 2020
Ideato e curato da Giordana Menasci e Anna Orvieto

Sami Varsano: the prohibition of mixed marriages; on October 16th
Sami Varsano's interesting diary takes charge of a period
rather long storm. Sami was born on 13 April 1910 in Thessaloniki,
Greece. Through his writing he leaves - he wants to leave to his children and grandchildren, and he succeeds - a detailed picture of his family roots,
together with the salient episodes that affected his family
and the lives of those who left after the fire of Thessaloniki for the vault
of Italy5
. The testimony analyzes the events in a detailed way
contemporary historians, as well as Italian events and political changes.
Following the declaration of war on 10 June 1940, the 20th of
the same month he was arrested and locked up in the Poggioreale prison, because he was a foreign Jew and stateless. Thanks to the intervention of grandfather Daniele,
also because of his knowledge, he is released from prison.
An attentive interlocutor who leaves nothing to chance, in his testimony Varsano reports in a diachronic way many personal facts and those of his friends, as well as his family, who were in France while he
had decided to stop in Italy to complete his university studies in
Chemistry. He manages to make up for the economic difficulties animated by one

5 Sami e la famiglia – insieme ad altre famiglie ebree di Salonicco, come si evince 
nel diario – si imbarcarono il 3 ottobre 1917 sulla nave italiana Bosforo, diretti a Napoli
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strong will, taking music lessons and doing repetitions, too
in order to get a position to start a family with Costanza. TO
due to the promulgation of the racial laws which would have prohibited i
mixed marriages – Sami is Jewish, Costanza is not – the two ancient engaged couples anticipate their union with respect to the promise made to their father to wait,
fulfilling their dream and moving – as he reports – without “anyone
formalities" on 28 August 1938 in a municipal section of Vomero,
where “in a modest, messy and dusty office we pronounced
the fateful "yes" and we exchanged rings in front of an officer of the
civil status ... who read us the articles of the code".
A few months after the wedding, the little family is forced to clash
with what the racial laws had caused in the life of the country: “the
Italians did not even know, until recently, what anti-Semitism meant; very many did not know who the Jews were. We had always lived among others, with others. We had the same flaws
and the same qualities as others”; so it was natural – he continues – “that the
majority felt the profound injustice of these persecutions, and
who expressed, when possible, his sympathy for the persecuted. But the regime wanted tough Italians, so it condemned every form
of sympathy as reprehensible pietism”. So on November 6, 1938, Sami
loses his job at the chemical laboratory of the Customs of Trieste,
regaining it at the end of the conflict, after having suffered the ordeals of
persecution in which he, Costanza and their children6
 they had to hide, waves
avoid being rounded up and deported7
.
Reads Andrea Bosman son of Francesca Varsano, nephew of Sami
Varsano
Searching my memory I might find other details of
that period, but I prefer to immediately talk about the most salient events
and, in a sense, more dramatic that followed in 1938. The
The anti-Semitic campaign spread more and more in the newspapers, increasing the bitterness and anguish in my soul. I couldn't even
imagine how far it could have gone. There had been an act
6 Grazia, born in 1939; Elio, born in 1942 and Isabella, born after the end of
hostility, in 1946. 7 Sami Varsano's unpublished diary is deposited at the Archive Foundation
National Diary, located in Pieve di Santo Stefano, in Arezzo, and at the Foundation
CDEC of Milan
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extremely serious official: the Race Manifesto. Some paid university professors, without any dignity, had set up one
pseudo-scientific statement, asserting, without proving it, the existence of an Italian race to which the Jews were foreign and concluding
with the need to safeguard its purity.
Even before going to Venice, during my Sunday trip to Naples, we had decided with Costanza and her family
to speed things up. Now that there was imminent danger of
a prohibition on mixed marriages, we needed to get married
before the end of August. The wedding was set for August 28th.
I ran to Naples, we made the publications and I returned to Rome.
No formalities, no pomp. Sunday morning, August 28, 1938, we left the house around 10, Costanza with her parents, me and
witnesses. On foot we went to the municipal section of Vomero,
where in a modest, messy and dusty office we pronounced the fateful "yes", we exchanged rings in front of an officer
of the civil status, distracted and vaporized, who read us the articles of the
code. We added our signatures followed by those of the witnesses
and we left there husband and wife after five years of waiting. At home
we found several “bouquets” of flowers (one delivered from Paris
from dad, Jacques and Irene), but presents almost nothing. Many came
telegrams and letters of greetings, still jealously guarded together
to my letters as a boyfriend.
I see newspapers on newsstands, in extraordinary editions with headlines
the provisions of the Grand Council in capital letters. At times I
takes an accident: the first thing I learned was that all the Jews,
who had obtained citizenship after 1919, lost it for
law and were stateless. Therefore they automatically lost
any state employment or public sector employment. Hiding my anguish, I went to get Costanza. On the way out I told her the news
of the “tile” falling on our heads. We already had the afternoon
previously decided to go to the Almansi. We called and there
they said to go immediately. They were all upset: they lost their jobs
at the same time his father Dante, Renato and Miecio. … I do not
I knew what to do. Dante Almansi suggested that I behave as if
nothing had happened, and to reach Trieste anyway. The provisions of the Grand Council did not have executive value: they had to
had yet to be translated into state laws and individual decrees had to be subsequently issued. So there was still time.
The anti-Semitic tide was rising; we blindfolded ourselves and
we blocked our ears, in the absurd hope of not hearing and not
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to see, waiting for a miracle to happen that we knew was impossible or for fate to be fulfilled. And the fate was fulfilled. One morning, around
on November 68
, upon entering the laboratory, the clerk told me that the
Director wanted me immediately. I thought he wanted to scold me because I usually always arrived a little late. I replied
that as soon as I took off my coat and put on my lab coat, I would go. They
he insisted: “No, he must go immediately.” The Director who didn't know how
to begin, then he showed me a telegram ordering him to do so
to relieve me from duty immediately. When he said goodbye to me he had tears in his eyes
eyes. “What will he do now?” - "I do not know". I took my personal stuff and
I went back to retirement. I found Costanza combing her hair in front of the
mirror. She asked in amazement “What is it? You forgot something?"
– “I lost my job”. ... For a few days I went around to see
if there was a possibility of finding a job. However, these were public bodies or private companies who were afraid to speak to a Jew
outcast. On the other hand, they had also started a campaign in the newspapers
against “pietism”. The Italians didn't know, until recently
before, not even what anti-Semitism meant; very many did not know who the Jews were. We had always lived among others, with
the others. … It was therefore natural that the majority felt the profound injustice of these persecutions, and that they expressed when
it was possible, his sympathy for the persecuted. But the regime wanted it
tough Italians, therefore he condemned every form of sympathy as reprehensible pietism. Fear then did the rest.
Law Sofia Bosman daughter of Francesca Varsano, granddaughter of Sami Var sano
On the morning of October 16th I went to Testaccio and was already on my way
I had noticed something unusual: groupings, whispers, glances
oblique at every step.
At the butcher's I hear two women and the shopkeeper talking and telling what was happening and what had happened during the night
to the poor "Jews". Everyone told about things they had seen: soldiers
breaking down the doors of the houses and pushing everyone out with the butts of their rifles,
men, women, old people, children, sick, without any distinction
and then load them onto trucks and take them away. My blood runs cold. Not
I buy nothing and quickly return to the Pyramid Station
8 1938

Photo Caption: Sami Varsano on the ship "Butterfly" from Mogadishu to Naples, 13 December 1936 (courtesy of the Varsano family)
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  Professor Samuele “Sami” Varsano is a chemist, mathematician, and nuclear physicist. Speaking at the University of Rome, 1959 Professor Sami Varsano and scientist Emilio Ascarelli discussed their theory of the “vortex” or “of rotating space.” After 20 years of research, the theory was published in February of 1958 in Chimica magazine. Further experimental scrutiny would be needed to reinforce the theory.
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The songs were extracted from Sami Varsano's unpublished diary, written in 1977
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THE KADDISH
Music by Sami Varsano
Kaddish was originally a formula for closing meetings
study or prayer in which the greatness of God was exalted and yes
it expressed the hope of a rapid advent of the Messiah.
In later times the Kaddish was also recited by the people in
mourning, who found in it expressions and reasons for consolation and
comfort.
The orphan who recites the Kaddish must know that this prayer is valid as public recognition by the son of merits.
of his father, who knew how to educate him to observe the rules of the
Torah and the principles of Judaism. And the public response “Let it be the
His great blessed name (Yeè Shemè Rabbà Mevarach), will therefore take on a double meaning: it will not be addressed only to God, but
also to the memory of the deceased loved one.
The Kaddish remains in the Jewish liturgy the prayer of sanctification of the Name of God. It is a prayer which, recited with love and
veneration over the centuries, has always emphasized the will
of the Jewish people to keep alive their characteristic and essential dialogue with God
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Translated From Hebrew:
May His great name be magnified and sanctified, in the world that
He created according to His will, His Kingdom come during
your life, your existence and that of all the people of Israel,
soon and in the shortest time.
May His great name be blessed for all eternity. Praised be he,
glorified, raised, elevated, magnified, celebrated, commended, the name of the Holy Benedict.
May he be, above every blessing, song, celebration, and with solace that we pronounce in this world.
May abundant peace and a happy life descend upon us from heaven
over all the people of Israel.
May He who makes peace reign in the highest heavens, in His infinite mercy grant it to us and to all the people of Israel. And so be it.
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After the fire in Salonika, many Jews who came to this city took refuge in Naples
S. Varsano examined the community records and his data is reported in full by Professor Giura. Registration in the community having not been made compulsory in 1935
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55 names from Salonica and 125 Sephardic Jews represented a signficant portion of the Jewish population of Naples. Prominent Jewish Families from Salonica were included in this group Abrabanel and Naar - Coffee, Modiano - Oriental rugs, Beraha - medical and dental equipment, Bivash - hosiery, Benusiglio -knitwear, Gattegno -ties, and medical doctor Moshe Modiano 
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