Who is Iacopo Soncini from A Thread of Grace and what is their importance?

As chief rabbi at Sant'Andrea, the gentle, soft-spoken Iacopo Soncini is a devoted, hard-working servant of his people, who is truly a humble and generous soul. Leaving his wife and children and being jailed more than once, he makes sure his people have food and money, and at one point, collects charcoal from the city streets to deliver to the poor households for fuel. Eventually imprisoned in a labor sweep, he is the reason that Lidia and Renzo Leoni blow up the municipal jail.