The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah - MEIS was founded with the law of 17 April 2003 n. 91, later amended by law no. 296 of 27 December 2006, "as evidence of the events that have characterized the two thousand year old Jewish presence in Italy". This decision recognizes and enhances the exceptional continuity of a rich, uninterrupted, but unknown to most people, path in which the Jews have brought their own traditions and a fundamental cultural contribution to the history and fabric of the country, between periods of persecution, which began with closure in the ghettos and culminating in the tragedy of the Shoah, and others of coexistence and fruitful interactions. In recounting the life experience of a consolidated minority, the MEIS is above all a place of meeting and exchange. A laboratory of ideas and reflections open to all, which stimulates debate on Judaism and the value of dialogue between cultures.