Italian Synagogue

The Italian Synagogue in the Bereketzade neighborhood stands behind a plain, high stone wall, identifiable by the distinctive, arched entryway topped with a decorative stone carving of the Star of David. Built in eighteen eighty-seven, this synagogue served the Italian Jewish community of Istanbul, known as the Comunità Israelitico-Italiana. The community constructed this building to replace older, smaller prayer rooms, hiring local architects to blend Venetian-inspired masonry with the classic aesthetics of a nineteenth-century Istanbul house of worship.