Jews, Liberalism and the Land 1850-1940 (June, 2025)

Convened by Dr Fabrizio Boldrini (Hallgarten-Franchetti Foundation), Dr Maria Rita Bracchini, (Hallgarten-Franchetti Foundation), Professor Tobias Brinkmann (Penn State University), Dr Silvia Davoli (Oxford),  Professor Abigail Green (Oxford), and Dr Luisa Levi d’Ancona Modena (Oxford)

The 8th conference of the Jewish Country Houses project took place in Città di Castello, Umbria from June 9th – 11th, 2025.

This conference took the Jewish country house – an important manifestation of Jewish emancipation in many different parts of Europe - as a starting point for reconsidering the relationship between Jews, politics, economy and the land during the 19th and 20th centuries. In some countries, the countryside could be an incubator for antisemitic politics, in others it was an investment opportunity, and everywhere landownership held a social aspect for members of the Jewish economic elite seeking status, influence, and integration. This conference explored those tensions.

Panel 1 'Political Visions'

The conference was hosted by the Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti and we were warmly welcomed by its Director, Riccardo Mancini. The programme included a visit to the Villa Montesca, the Umbrian home of Leopoldo Franchetti, a Jewish parliamentarian best known for his work on agricultural reform, and his wife Alice Hallgarten-Franchetti, a key patron of Maria Montessori, educational reform and rural handicrafts. The built heritage of the Villa and the Franchettis’ local legacies was an integral part of the conference.

Discovering the interiors at the Villa Montesca

The six panels covered themes including ‘Political visions’, ‘Transforming the environment between Europe and Palestine’, ‘Educational innovation’, ‘Rothschild interventions’, ‘Agricultural modernization’ and ‘Landlords’, with speakers from Italy, Israel, Sweden, the US, Germany, Austria, France, and the UK. The keynote lecture was given by Abigail Green: ‘In search of constituency: Jews, liberalism and the land’.The full programme can be seen at https://jch.web.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/jch/documents/media/jews_li.... 

After the official close of the conference, participants were given the opportunity to visit the Castello Sonnino in Montespertoli - one of the properties inherited by Sidney Sonnino (1847-1922) from his father Isacco Sonnino, a Jewish banker from Livorno. Sonnino was an eminent Italian liberal - twice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister- who although an Anglican, was perceived by many as a Jew. Sonnino was a close friend and collaborator of Leopoldo Franchetti, of the Villa Montesca, and a reformer of the agricultural system.

Caterina de Renzis Sonnino shows delegates the library at the Castello Sonnino

The conference organisers are grateful to the Hallgarten-Franchetti Foundation, the Palazzo Vitelli a Sant’Egidio, the University of Oxford’s John Fell Fund, Brasenose College, Oxford, and Penn State University for their support.

“As always, it has provided even more sight of the broader histories, particularly this time of the setting of country houses and their owners in a wider landscape and deepened our understanding of the connection to the land and the complexity of land ownership, sometimes attached to notions of belonging and acceptance. We have more to do but the work shared here and the community (family) this project has created, supported and nurtured are already having impact on the research we undertake, the stories we tell and the audiences we engage with”.

Feedback from a conference delegate