Photo of Donato Manduzio (1885-1950), the controversial figure who attempted to recreate Judaism from scratch in the early XXth century in San Nicandro, in Foggia's province, and was indirectly responsible for a fringe but active sect within Judaism, calling themselves Mandutians, who adhere to a very strict interpretation of Mosaic Law and has an evangelizing bent much unlike most of Judaism.
Born an illiterate farmer, Manduzio was conscripted in WWI and wounded in battle. During his convelescence, he was approached by a Seventh Day Adventist, who offered him to teach him how to read and write with the help of an Italian translation of the Bible. While Donato proved himself a very apt pupil and used his skills to devour as much knowledge as possible from almanacs-- thereby becoming a sort of "spiritual healer" and seer for his community back home-- he was left unconvinced by the New Testament, findhing himself much more attracted by the teachings of the Old Testament instead. After a revelatory dream, and unaware of the existence of thriving Jewish communities elsewhere in the world (believing Judaism to be a dead religion), he proclaimed himself a prophet and started preaching his beliefs to the inhabitants of San Nicandro.
In the late Twenties, throught the salesmen passing in the village, he came into contact with the Jewish community of Turin and Rome, both of which were both bemused and alarmed by Manduzio's zeal and misinterpretations. The Grand Rabbi of Rome offered Manduzio the possibility to recieve material capable of bringing him and his followers back into more orthodox lines, but Manduzio still mantained a strong grip on his followers.
While unconventional, the OVRA's activities towards the San Nicandro quasi-Jews limited themselves to cautious observation, and Manduzio's pleads to reroute some of the Jews coming from the explusions in the rest of Europe were met with a token amount of people being redirected in the area, usually to the surprise of the new arrivals. Ultimately, in 1938, after years of the Rome community trying to nudge Manduzio back in line and him refusing due to his strong belief of "pure Jewishness", matters came to a head, and Manduzio gave an option to his followers: either leave and join the community of Rome, or keep following him.
While a few families packed their bags and left for Rome, usually completing their conversion there, the rest of the San Nicandro's unusual Jewish community remained loyal to him, and over time created their own set of practices. When war between Italy and Germany broke out, Manduzio decided to let some of his followers go north and help out: while none of the volunteers from San Nicandro saw combat, their attempts to help with medical aid and general support was enough to attract a handful of the people involved in the battle of Triste and the following skirmishes (with Parenzo becoming a particularily important town for the group, as that's where the bulk of the new converts, around 100, came from), who then followed the volunteers to San Nicandro.
In the aftermath of the war, the town became a known, but mostly harmless oddity. Manduzio ultimatley died of cancer on September 8th 1950: while the words on his diary made clear he intended for San Nicandro to remain confined to the Gargano Peninsula, believing that it was God's plan, his spiritual successor declared that it was now duty of all the loyal followers of Manduzio to spread the "Pure Judaism" all over the world, starting with Italy and Israel.
Israel used to classify Mandutians as a "worrying sect", especially in light of their decidely fanatical ideas, but their strictness never lead to much more than verbal violence. Currently San Nicandro is a common tourist destination for people interested in the esoteric and for pilgrims, though in the last few years there has been a trickling loss of importance of the Mandutian ever since the successor to MAnduzio died, a development that the Kingdom of Italy is unsure whether to avoid or allow.