GiudeccAPP

“GiudeccAPP: On the wings of love in the Giudecca sky” is the story of two young people, Rivka and Yehuda, who respectively belong to the Jewish communities of Venice and Trani. GiudeccAPP has been built as the final product of a school-work experience project developed by a group of language students of Liceo Francesco De Sanctis in collaboration with Mr Santacesaria and Ms Labombarda, two computer experts from the Swipe Story Team, Mr Gramegna and Mr Cassanelli, the two architects responsible for the renovation of the Sant’Anna Synagogue-Museum, Mr Pagliara, expert on Jewish doctrine, and Ms Losito, expert in Italian language. GiudeccAPP is based on seven scenes through which the story of our two characters develops. The main feature of this Swipe Story is that it tells a story through the use of animation, which the students created with the help of the Swipe experts, while paying special attention to the historical accuracy of the costumes and settings of 15th and 16th century Trani. By simply swiping your finger across the screen, you can move from one scene to another and also view several relevant details. The aim of this project was to enhance the Sant’Anna Museum in Trani, formerly Scola Grande synagogue, which is part of Trani Polo Museale and is run by the SECA Foundation. Our story is set in Trani at the end of the 15th century. Rivka and her family are Ashkenazi Jews, who have moved from Venice to Trani where the girl’s father is going to set up a money changer business. The story begins on a Shabbat day with Shaul, Yehuda’s father, engaged in conversation with a friend who will introduce Rivka’s father, Yoel, to him. Rivka and Yehuda meet too and fall in love immediately. Shaul and Yoel decide to let their children marry. A few days later the engagement is officially announced in the presence of both families during a dinner party at the bride-to-be’s house. A year later the young couple get married in the presence of the rabbi and before four witnesses in the Scola Grande synagogue. The wedding ceremony starts with the groom giving the ring to the bride under the Chuppah. Draped in the Tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, the two protagonists drink wine from an overflowing glass and receive several blessings recited by the rabbi. After the groom has given the bride the wedding contract, the ceremony ends with the groom breaking the glass; this is a very tense moment in our story since, in the Jewish tradition, if the glass does not break, the couple will not live a happy married life. But the glass shatters joyfully into pieces, thus promising the newlyweds a happy marriage. The narrative is enriched with several important insights into the Jewish tradition; it also provides an in-depth understanding of the historical and architectural character of the original building which today is almost completely lost because of the many changes it has undergone through the centuries. In fact, the old Scola Grande Synagogue was turned into a church by Trani’s Brotherhood of Sant’Anna in the 16th century, and, after a long period of neglect, it has been a museum since 2009. In this phase the collaboration with Mr Cassanelli and Mr Gramegna has proved invaluable in reconstructing the original aspect of the building.