Riccardo Calimani

Riccardo Calimani (born 1946 in Venice, Italy) is a writer and historian, specialising in Italian and European Judaism and Jewish history.

A graduate of electronic engineering at the University of Padua and of Philosophy of science at the University of Venice, he worked many years a director of TV programmes at RAI for the Venetian Region.

Among his many works are Dialogo sull'ebraismo (Dialogue on Judaism) (1984), an updated edition of the book written by important Venetian Rabbi Simone Calimani (Simchah ben Abraham Calimani, an ancestor of his), who lived in the 18th century; The Ghetto of Venice (Costantino Pavan Prize), Ebrei e pregiudizio (Jews and Prejudice) (2000), Storia dell'ebreo errante (A History of the Wandering Jew) (2002), L'Inquisizione a Venezia (Inquisition in Venice) (2002), Non è facile essere ebreo (It's Not Easy To Be A Jew) (2004), Passione e tragedia (Passion and Tragedy) (2006), Ebrei eterni inquieti (Jews, Eternally Restless) (2007). In 1986 he received the Prize for Culture from the Italian Parliament and in 1997 the European Prize for Culture.

Currently, he is the vice president of the Jewish Community of Venice and Honorary Swiss Consul in Venice.