ABSTRACT
The first trauma in the history of the Italian Jews of the modern era is the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 and 1496, an event which must be inserted within the general context of European history. The strong current of migration impacted Italy, with the arrival en masse of Sephardic refugees, who were unwelcome to the longtime Jewish residents. The cohabitation of the different components created multiethnic communities and triggered a great deal of tension, rivalry, and conflict, aggravated by economic, social, cultural, and linguistic differences. The solution to establish coexistence between the different components was the result of agreements (Capitoli), mediated, as in Rome, by the Christian authorities. The Capitoli succeeded in building a largely stable system of institutions and government, with a balance of offices held among different nations and social groups meant to encourage the integration of the nuclei of immigrants and the natives. In Rome, the Capitoli remained in force until 1870, the date of the fall of the city.
