The history of the Jews in Ancona in Italy, began when Jews settled into the city in the first half of the 14th century, contributing to money-lending and other economic roles. The Jewish community of Ancona is one of the oldest and most significant Jewish communities in Italy. The presence of Jews is first recorded in the 10th century. In the following centuries the community grew because of the importance of the port and commercial links with the Levant. First settlement of Jews Jews started living in Ancona, Italy around 967 A.C. In that year, the Archbishop of Ravenna rented a piece of land to a Jew named Eliyahu. It is possible that a synagogue existed already in the 12th century, due to a Slicha written by a Jewish Paytan, referring the 1279 destruction of the town synagogue by an earthquake. One famous Jewish resident of Ancona was Jacob of Ancona, a traveler who got to China in 1270, four years before Marco Polo, and reported about it in a book he supposedly wrote, called the city of lights. By 1300, an organized Jewish community apparently existed in Ancona. In 1300, Jewish poet Immanuel the Roman sent a letter to Rome on behalf of the Jewish community in Ancona, asking authorities to lighten taxation due to financial hardships and persecutions of the Jewish community. It seems that Jews mainly worked in money lending. While the majority of Ancona Jews came from the Muslim east, later they were joined by some German Jews in 1348. In 1427, a religious cleric named James of the marcher unsuccessfully tried to force town Jews to wear a Jewish badge and restrict them into one street, though opinions are not unanimous regarding this unsuccessful attempt, claiming Jews were forced to carry a Jewish badge and live in restricted areas. In 1520, the Jews of Ancona were forced once again to wear the Jewish badge, though this rule had been cancelled four years later. In around 1450, the Jewish population of Ancona numbered an estimated 500 persons, consisting of 5% of the town's total population. After the city had fallen into the Papal state in 1429, pope Martin V tried to develop Ancona as an Italian center of commerce. In order to achieve that goal, the town Jews got permission to open banks and loan money by interest. Due to this pro-Jewish approach, Jewish fugitives from