Culture: Italy buys disputed Maimonides manuscript
Rome - Italy bought the disputed manuscript of Jewish philosopher Maimonides, a 1349 translation of the Guide for the Perplexed from Arabic to Hebrew. "We made it. The Maimonides manuscript will stay in Italy", said the Director General for the Archives, Gino Famiglietti, at the end of a successful all-Italian mission to keep in Italy the disputed 1349 manuscript, a translation of the Guide of the Perplexed from Arabic into Hebrew written by the great rabbi and philosopher Moses Maimonides, one of the greatest thinkers of Arab-dominated Andalusia, between the 12th and 13th century. The manuscript had belonged to the Norsa family, in Mantua, since 1500 and was in danger of going abroad, first to an American collector and then, when this deal evaporated, to an Austrian millionaire. Now it has been purchased by the Italian state, thanks to the interest of the national Archives that were able to win over other candidate buyers.