Introduction

Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro was a Jewish Italian dancer and dancing master at some of the most influential courts in Renaissance Italy, including Naples, Urbino, Milan, and Ferrara. His byname Ebreo means simply ‘Hebrew.’ Not always used when referring to him, da Pesaro indicates that he was from the east-central town of Pesaro. Between October 1463 and May 1465, Guglielmo probably converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism and took the name Giovanni Ambrosio.