Modena. The city council approved a project for the city’s urban redevelopment, which included, among other things, the demolition of the block between Via Blasia and Via Coltellini, a part of the former ghetto area considered one of the city’s “unsanitary zones.” The demolition was completed in 1903, creating the current Piazza Mazzini; the portico on Via Coltellini was also demolished, and the facades of the houses facing the square were restored and embellished. Sixty families were evicted and forced to relocate. Synagogues, confraternity houses, and the Sanguinetti school, a center of Jewish study and prayer since the 16th century, were demolished and closed.
