For centuries, the Sephardic Jewish neighborhoods of cities from Tangier, Fez, and Amsterdam to Salonika, Istanbul, and Aleppo echoed with Ladino, a 15th-century Castilian dialect (sprinkled with Hebrew words) spoken by the Spanish exiles wherever they settled.
Certain Sephardic Jewish neighborhoods of cities like Tangier, speak the Ladino dialect.
The Florentine artist was just 25, and justly proud enough to append his signature (the only surviving example), visible on the Madonna's sash . Since a religious fanatic attacked it with a hammer in 1972, the statue is protected by bullet-proof glass.