The residents of the small town of Lugo, in the north central region of Emilia Romagna, take pride to this day in its former Jewish community and their cultural achievements, especially the exceptional decorated ketubbot produced there. Indeed, from the late seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centu- ries, this provincial town became one of the leading centers of ketubbah illustration in Italy. Local Jewish artists developed a technique of making intricately cutout borders.

This contract represents a practice distinctive to the Jews of Italy: the reuse of borders from earlier, beautifully decorated ketubbot. Unlike the example from Alessandria (cat. no.63), here the border created locally about a generation before the present couple reused it for their wedding in Lugo. As the opening word “On Wednesday” from the original ketubbah could not be removed without risk of damage to the decoration, and the second wedding took place on a Wednesday as well, this word appears twice.

The entire external border is ornamented with a series of small cutout triangles and circles. The three circles along the top are shaped as delicate roses. Framing the text is an arch, supported by a pair of twisted columns with ornamental bases and floral capitals that are entirely formed from tiny cutouts. The arch encloses large cutout cartouches inscribed with a blessing typical of Lugo ketubbot: “Almighty, Bless us and we shall live[!]”.