Jewish Culture Day Honors Guccini Amid Warnings Over Rising Antisemitism

A tribute to Francesco Guccini and warnings about rising antisemitism shaped Italy’s Jewish Culture Day in Bologna. The city served as the national center for events marking the European observance, with the official ceremony held at the synagogue on Via Finzi.

“

The pain over the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population, as well as the right to express political positions and demonstrate dissent, fully belong to the freedom of a people like ours, but no criticism of government decisions and no dissent over the choices of the state can turn into hostility toward Jewish citizens as such, nor become a justification for intimidation, attacks or discrimination against Jews.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi attended alongside Livia Ottolenghi, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, Israel’s ambassador to Italy Yonatan Peled and Bologna Mayor Matteo Lepore. Piantedosi said people had the right to feel pain over Gaza’s civilian suffering, express political views and protest. But, he added, criticism of a government or opposition to a state’s policies could not become hostility toward Jewish citizens as such, or be used to justify intimidation, attacks or discrimination.

The minister called for society to recognize hate speech before it turns into violence and said abnormal behavior must never be treated as normal. Protecting a community, he argued, means more than safeguarding people and buildings. It also means creating the conditions for people to live their identity fully, pray, study, educate their children and express their culture freely.

“

Protecting a community does not only mean protecting physical bodies or structures.

That responsibility cannot fall on institutions alone, Piantedosi said. Schools, universities and cultural institutions must also support the protection of Jewish life. Mayor Lepore similarly warned that the language of the present day increasingly portrays minorities as less legitimate.

“

We wanted to open this day with the words and music of Francesco Guccini, who was deeply connected to Bologna through a story of love.

The morning opened with a tribute to Guccini, who died a month earlier. In the synagogue, musicians reinterpreted “Shomèr ma mi-llailah?”, his 1983 song inspired by the Bible and the Book of Isaiah. Daniele de Paz, president of Bologna’s Jewish community, said the event began with Guccini’s words and music because of his deep bond and love for Bologna. The theme of the 2026 observance is love, and de Paz called for a message that no identity should make people blind to another person’s suffering.

“

I would like this city, on a day like this, to send a message: that no identity should make us blind to the suffering of another, and that every person’s right to live without fear, to be loved and to