A New Guide to Jewish Puglia

Fabrizio Ghio and Fabrizio Lelli, The Jewish Salento: Travel Guide. Translated by David Katan. Capone Editore. Perhaps this is one of the most significant features of the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. Puglia has lost its old complex ethnic composition and the medley of religions that once characterized it. As Western civilization developed, the heel of the boot came to be seen as a Finis Terrae, “the end of the earth” as far as the Christian world was concerned. Terra d’Otranto became the outpost, beyond which was the infidel enemy, not only the Turk (real or imagined) but also the Jew, and all ‘others’.