Manuscript Mahzor of the Italian Rite

The mahzor is the prayer book for the major festivals (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and, depending on the rite, the pilgrimage festivals), which assembles, in addition to the ordinary prayers, the piyyutim, liturgical poems specific to each solemnity. The Italian rite (minhag Italki) possesses its own composition of these poems and its distinct liturgical ordering. The manuscripts of this rite, copied on parchment before the spread of printing, are distinguished by their illuminated initials, their borders, and their margins peopled with grotesques and decorative motifs. These books rank among the richest witnesses to Hebrew manuscript illumination of the medieval period and the Renaissance in Italy.