Having just returned from Italy, it was no surprise to me to learn that it has been judged the best place in Europe to be Jewish. On a trip to promote my book What We’re Scared Of (in Italian Le Cose Che Ci Fanno Paura) which is for teenagers and about contemporary antisemitism, I experienced a culture of open-minds, and a thoughtful, inventive way of feeding them.

Take my publisher, Giuntina. I have to admit that my heart sank when my agent told me that the book had been purchased by a specialist Jewish interest imprint. I imagined something a little niche, a little sad, probably quite amateurish.  How wrong I was! Giuntina publishes everything from the Talmud (part of a translation programme funded by the Italian government) to modern Israeli literature. 

The books have great covers (one translation of a Yiddish writer had a very attractive Chasid on its cover, clearly aimed at the Shtisel audience) and sell mainly to non-Jews - they have to, as the Jewish community in Italy is so small.

At the Turin book fair I spoke to a room full of non-Jewish school students -  all of whom had read the book and were keen to ask searching questions. This was thanks to a grant from the Rome Foundation for the Shoah Museum, which sent 2000 copies of the book to schools across Italy, and held a competition for readers to review the book on TikTok. Later in Rome I met the winners of the competition and saw their videos.

And at the 800-pupil Jewish school, at the heart of Rome’s ghetto, I met cheering pupils, keen to ask questions and get their books signed. It was extremely heart-warming, and a contrast to the rest of the world - Italy is so far the only country where I have a foreign deal for my book. What’s more it is long listed for the Strega, Italy’s most prestigious literary prize (in the 11-15 age group). In the equivalent prize in the UK, it was not even nominated.

The Rome ghetto was for hundreds of years, a place of fear and imprisonment. Roman Jews could only escape from its confines by converting. Later the community suffered under Fascism, many died in the Holocaust and as recently as 1982 terrorists attacked the Great Synagogue and a toddler was killed. Still, the community is the oldest in Europe, and many families can trace their history back for generations.

This shows a certain determination and admirable tenacity. The ghetto now bustles with life, and there are many kosher restaurants. For once, this does not feel like an exercise in exploiting Jewish heritage, but something fresh and encouraging and extremely positive. Viva L’Italia!