A new initiative aims to digitize some 35,000 Jewish texts sitting in the hands of 14 different Jewish community organizations and 25 state institutions across Italy.

Around 10,000 volumes have already been digitized as part of the Italya Books project, an initiative of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the National Central Library of Rome, the National Library of Israel and the Rothschild Hanadiv Europe Foundation.

Tens of thousands of uncatalogued printed Hebrew books dating back hundreds of years, are held in collections belonging to local Jewish communities, as well as in libraries owned by the state, Italian church institutions and the Vatican. Many are of significant historical importance.

You can read the full story in an article by Giovanni Vigna published in the Jerusalem Post at https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-700832.