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Donato Manduzio's diary, from church to synagogue

Donato Manduzio was an illiterate Southern Italian peasant who only learned how to read and write at the age of thirty-two, while convalescing from a wound during the First World War. His subsequent reading of Scripture and the visions he experienced led him to turn to Judaism and to seek an official conversion for himself and seventy-odd followers. For twelve of the sixteen-year-long process, Manduzio wrote about his experiences. Although some excerpts from the Diary have been translated, the manuscript has remained unpublished either in Italian or in any other language up to this day. This book translates the full text of Manduzio's Diary from the original Italian into English, making it available at last to a wider public. After providing a social and historical framework for the trajectory of this remarkable man, it retraces Manduzio's mystical visions and spiritual development, as well as his struggle to create and maintain a Jewish community in a remote corner of Apulia at a time when Fascism was taking hold of Italy. It also shows how the text fits in the context of religious conversion narratives and of literary studies, thus shedding a fresh and fascinating light on the subject.This book will be of interest to specialists of autobiography, Jewish studies, Italian studies, and cultural studies. The Diary's literary qualities and riveting story-telling will also make it a must-read for general audiences.

Giovanni-Ovadiah da Oppido, proselito, viaggiatore e musicista dell'età normanna : atti del convegno internazionale, Oppido Lucano, 28-30 marzo 2004

Les convertis : Israël Zolli et Donato Manduzio ou l'histoire des conversions inattendues du grand rabbin de Rome et d'un paysan des Pouilles dans l'Italie fasciste

"L'un était le grand rabbin de Rome, l'autre un paysan illettré des Pouilles. Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le premier Israël Zolli, se convertira au catholicisme, le second Donato Mandozio, avec sa communauté, voudra épouser le judaïsme. Pourquoi ces deux conversions à sens contraire dans une période de l'histoire si trouble ? Quels chemins, quelles inquiétudes et quelles illuminations ont conduit ces deux hommes si différents à remettre fondamentalement en question leur foi pour en embrasser une autre ? Quel courage leur fallut-il manifester pour résister aux pressions et à l'indignation de leurs proches ?"--P. [4] of cover.