Jewish Monferrato

The Jewish community of Moncalvo and the “Appam custom”

After the expulsion of Jews from France in 1394, may of them moved to Italy. In the Jewish communities of Asti, Fossano and Moncalvo, began thus a new prayer custom, called APpaM from the initials in Hebrew of these three towns, that joined the French custom and the German one.
This custom got almost entirely lost during the past century and today, only some melodies of prayers remembered by the few Jews still living there remain of this special cultural and religious mark.