El Grana Souk
The Granas were mercantile port Jews from the Tuscan city of Livorno who settled in Tunis in the seventeenth century. Grana is the Tunisian colloquial Arabic term for Livorno. Livornese Jews formed important commercial links across the Mediterranean. In Tunis the Grana were active in commerce and they set up a market, the Souk el Grana, that became central to economic life in the city. Jewish merchants in the Souk el Grana exported local artisanal and agricultural products. They also exported goods stemming from the Trans-Saharan trade (ostrich feathers and incense).
