BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1992. Page 238 has town and photo information for Piran. Extracted by Elaine B. Kolinsky
This small mediaeval port on the Gulf of Trieste at the southern end of Slovenia's short coastline, Piran was conquered by Venice in the late 13th century. Piran's architecture shows the Venetian influence. A Jewish community was here in 1483 although Jewish settlement may have begun a century earlier. Although Jews were not confined to a ghetto until 1714, they mostly lived around Židovski Trg (Jewish Square), a small space in the heart of the old town entered through two low archways. Surrounded by multistory buildings now painted in light pastel colours, the architecture is similar to the ghetto at Venice. The maily Baroque buildings on Židovski Trg are built atop medieval foundations of which nothing remains. The Church of St. Stephen forms the north side of the square, possibly on the site of the mediaeval synagogue. Renovated in the 1980s and was renamed Jewish Square Quarter (Kare Židovski Trg), two buildings of probably late 19th-century date were removed from the square to create a more open space.[January 2009]
Cemetery: ? Possibly used Trieste? Nova Gorica?