The Rome IndexJewish Rome
2,000 years of Jewish history in one of the world's oldest continuous communities.
The history
Rome's Jewish community predates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem — Jews were present in Rome from at least the 2nd century BC, making this one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. The community survived Roman Empire, Catholic papacy, ghetto confinement, and Nazi occupation, and remains active in the city today.
The Ghetto
Pope Paul IV confined Rome's Jews to the Ghetto in 1555 — a small area of what is now the Sant'Angelo district near the Theatre of Marcellus. The walls came down only in 1870 with Italian unification. The neighbourhood today retains its distinct character, culinary traditions and the Tempio Maggiore (Great Synagogue), which has a museum worth visiting.
Visiting today
The Jewish Museum of Rome inside the Tempio Maggiore documents the community's full history including the 1943 deportations. The neighbourhood's restaurants serve the Jewish-Roman culinary tradition — carciofi alla giudìa, baccalà, and the ricotta e visciole tart — in a context that makes the food mean more.