Rapito

In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Mortara family’s house was broken into by the Pope’s soldiers. On the orders of the Cardinal, they came for Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptised as an infant by his wet nurse and the Pope’s law was indisputable: he had to receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s parents tried everything to get their son back. With the support of public opinion and the international Jewish community, the family’s struggle quickly took on a political dimension.