Revealed: Medieval Jewish Mikveh Found Beneath Sicilian Church

Sicily: A medieval mikveh with Hebrew inscriptions was uncovered this week in the basement of a local church.

This remarkable discovery supports the writings of historian Giuseppe Maria Capodieci, who lived from 1749 to 1828, and claimed that the mikveh was built by Jews residing in Sicily until their expulsion in 1492.

The church is located in the city of Syracuse, Sicily, and nearby the mikveh, another Hebrew inscription has been found, shedding light on the Jewish community's life back then.

Israeli archaeologists note that like most ritual baths from this period, this mikveh is structured as a pool with spiraling steps, situated 14 meters below the ground.

The inscription was uncovered by Monsignor Sebastiano Amato, a senior figure in the local Catholic Church, and examined by Dr. Yonatan Adler, a leading Israeli archaeologist and lecturer at Ariel University, who remarked on its significance. "This discovery gives us compelling evidence that the facility found beneath the church served the local Jewish community as a mikveh prior to their expulsion in 1492," he concluded.