Mahzor manuscript of the Italian rite

The mahzor is the prayer book for the major festivals (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and according to the rites the pilgrimage festivals), which brings together, besides the ordinary prayers, the piyyutim, liturgical poems specific to each solemnity. The Italian rite (minhag Italki) has its own composition of these poems and its own distinct liturgical ordering. Manuscripts of this rite, copied on parchment before the spread of printing, are distinguished by their illuminated initials, their frames and their margins populated with drolleries and decorative motifs. These books are among the richest witnesses of medieval Hebrew illumination and the Renaissance in Italy.