1864 - 1946.
Shlomo (Salomon) Yaakov Florentin was a contractor and entrepreneur of Thessaloniki descent who founded the Florentin neighborhood in Tel Aviv in the 1930s.
Florentin was born in Thessaloniki to a wealthy family with roots in Florence (which is where the family name comes from).
He became wealthy working in insurance and tobacco. Over the years he earned important status in the Thessaloniki Jewish community and got closer to Greek government officials. While living in Greece, he purchased land in the Land of Israel.
In 1924 he immigrated to the Land of Israel, and together with other Thessaloniki merchants, bought land in the area that later became the Kiryat Shaul neighborhood (north of Tel Aviv). They built a water tower and tried to establish an agricultural settlement.
In 1929 he started building with David Abarbanel a neighborhood north of Jaffa, the Florentine neighborhood. The houses were sold at relatively low prices, to Jews with no means - mainly members of the Sephardic community of Jaffa.
The neighborhood was founded as a part of Jaffa, although the children of the neighborhood were educated in Tel Aviv institutions. In 1936, following the Great Arab Revolt, a conflict broke out between the neighborhood residents and the Jaffa Municipality. The residents started a tax revolt and established a local committee to provide cleaning and welfare services to residents.
The neighborhood was annexed to Tel Aviv in December 1948.
Shlomo Florentin died in Tel Aviv in 1946 and left behind three daughters and a son.
He has no connection with David Florentin.
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