For the first time in more than 1,500 years, the ruins of a synagogue dating back to the 4th century CE in the Calabria area of southern Italy played host to a Jewish wedding on June 4.

Roque Pugliese and Ivana Pezzoli, both of whom are descendants of Iberian Jews forcibly converted during the 14th and 15th centuries, were married in an emotional and historic ceremony at the site of the second-oldest synagogue ever found in Europe, reported JNS (Jewish News Service).

Pugliese’s parents hid their Jewish roots while he grew up in Calabria and Argentina. Discovering his heritage, Pugliese decided to formally return to Judaism with assistance from the Shavei Israel organization.

While Pezzoli was raised with certain Jewish traditions in her family, she was never told why. Researching her family history, she found that she had Jewish roots, and she embarked on an extensive study of Judaism for more than eight years before undergoing formal conversion.

Pugliese and Pezzoli are medics; they met while working at a local hospital, and are now living religiously observant Jewish lives.

The wedding took place in the archaeological park adjacent to the southern Italian seaside village of Bova Marina, where the remains of a synagogue were unearthed in 1983 during the construction of a road.