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The church of the Holy Salvatore preserves, now recomposed in the left aisle, a testimony of the Jewish community present in Agira, an almost unique religious-artistic rarity in the Mediterranean area, the oldest in Europe: the Aron in stone, or holy ark of 1454, in which the Torah scroll was kept. Usually Arons were built in wood while this one, a rare exception, is made of stone. The Aron has a great importance within the synagogue and for the Jewish liturgy because it is the piece of furniture responsible for containing the Sefer Torah, the scrolls of the law. Every Saturday, during functions, they are unrolled and read. Then they are stored inside the Aron. The church can be visited during the hours of Catholic worship, being owned by the diocese of Nicosia. The site can be easily reached driving along the Catania-Palermo motorway, exit Agira, and following the SP21 up to Piazza Roma

From a historical point of view, the synagogue Aron of Agira is extremely important, both because it is the oldest in Europe, and because it bears witness to the presence of a lively Jewish community in mid-fifteenth century Sicily, fully integrated into the social and economic structure of the time.

The Aron was originally placed in the synagogue of via Santa Croce, which was the synagogue of the Jewish community of Agira until March 31, 1492, the day when Ferdinand the Catholic issued the edict of Granada with which he expelled the Jews from all the territories that fell under the Spanish jurisdiction. Its planimetry without any doubt confirms the idea that it is a place of Jewish worship, then transformed into a Catholic oratory. It is the precious testimony of a long cohabitation between the two communities, unfortunately interrupted in the mid-fifteenth century.

The dominant religious confession of the territory has always been Catholicism, even if the deep-rooted cult of a black saint, like Saint Philip suggests the medieval presence of Arab ethnic groups, perhaps converted to Christianity. Jewish culture has however influenced the territory, and left many traces, both in popular traditions and in surnames.

- Organize a direct visit to the site, located in a building of Catholic worship full of historical and artistic testimonies.

- Conduct a research activity, in the classroom or at home, on the Jewish sites of worship in one’s own country, with a subsequent visit to the nearest synagogue, to compare the different arons in use.

- Deepen the study of the Jewish culture, starting from the religious traditions of the communities of one’s own country.
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