Jewish Museum of Memory and Hospitality

The Museo della Memoria e dell'Accoglienza is a lovely, heartwarming museum hat recounts a little-known part of Puglia's recent history - that of welcoming and assisting thousands of Jews following their liberation from Nazi concentration camps. The town of Santa Maria al Bagno was awarded the Medaglio d'Oro medal of honor from the Italian president for its part in assisting thousands of displaced persons as they sought to go from horror to their homeland. Here they underwent a sort of rebirth, with weddings, births, a school, a place of worship and a kibbutz.

Between 1943 and 1947, the Allies settled thousands of people in a handful of towns along the Puglian coast to give them a place to live and recover while the politics of the post-war situation were bubbling, and before these survivors were able to travel to Israel or elsewhere. The displaced person camps became havens for the survivors, mostly from Eastern Europe, who were blocked from entering Palestine. The local community, despite being poor and war-wearing themselves, opened their homes and hearts to them, helping the survivors in their "rebirth" with Italian warmth and hospitality -fueling the survivors' with food, friendship and football (soccer), as well as classes, trades, farming and other activities to allow them to reintegrate into a normal life. Many then went to Israel, to the Americas or to other parts of Europe, but they had a sort of protected convalescence period on this quiet coast. A home on the piazza was used as the synagogue (now the Caffe' Piccadilly). In 1948, the British Mandate ended and the State of Israel was born.

The museum documents the story of these Jews, their experiences in the Salento, and what happened to some of them after they left the DP camps. It's a fascinating story of hope and solidarity, told through photographs and documents and murals at the museum. Well worth a visit.