History of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome: A Walking Tour with Context

Jews first made their way to Rome and began settling as maritime merchants soon after erecting the very first synagogue outside of the Holy Land in the ancient Italian port town of Ostia. A few centuries later, in 1555, Jewish Romans were bound to a seven-acre site which became their only designated home. On this walking tour with professor and Context Travel expert, Andrew Kranis, you’ll explore parts of this designated area.

Starting in front of Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei, this tour will take you on a journey through Rome’s very complex Jewish history. You’ll find out how, for almost 300 years, Jews in Rome had no access to fresh drinking water. As you make your way through the Jewish Ghetto, across Isola Tiberina (Tiber Island) to the Trastevere neighborhood, you’ll explore the many churches that were constructed in the 1500s to antagonize the area’s Jewish residents. You’ll discover how Jews were continually offered the option of converting to Roman Catholicism as a way out of their imprisonment, and to have their citizenship fully restored. Along the way, Andrew will show you several memorials commemorating the Jews who died in the Holocaust and reveal the significance of Largo 16 Novembre 1943, the date Roman Jews were rounded up for deportation to Nazi concentration camps.

As you make your way to Piazza Sidney Sonnino where the tour ends, you’ll have a chance to:

• Retrace the steps of Jews who lived freely in this city before the Renaissance
• Learn about Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones) the cobblestone-sized plaques placed all over Europe to serve as a perpetual reminder of the atrocities and assassinations that took place following the deportation of Jews in World War II
• Gaze upon Portico of Octavia, an ancient Roman structure that perfectly demonstrates how the ghetto was exposed to the lapping currents of the Tiber River
• Dive deep into the construction and renovation of Rome’s Jewish ghetto and find out how it became a form of house arrest for this community for almost 300 years
• Tuck into Jewish-Italian foods at Pasticceria Boccione and Biscottificio Artigiano Innocenti bakeries
• Travel through the Trastevere neighborhood where you’ll learn about Jewish merchants’ strong presence in maritime trade along the Tiber River
• Take in the oldest synagogue in Rome, la Vecchia Sinagoga, which dates back to the 10th century
• Cross Ponte Cestio and Ponte Fabricio, the very oldest crossings over the Tiber River
• See Tempio Maggiore, the central administrative headquarters for the Jewish community of Rome and its modern place of worship

By the end of this hour-long tour through Rome, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the oppression the city’s Jews faced and the differences between ancient Roman and Jewish architectural styles. You’ll also have an opportunity to gorge on delicious kosher and Jewish cuisine.