Rome's Jewish Ghetto — Twenty-Two Centuries in Five Blocks

The Jews of Rome are the oldest Jewish community in Europe — present in the city since the 2nd century BCE, before Julius Caesar, and never entirely absent since. That continuity makes Rome unique: the community is neither Ashkenazi nor precisely Sephardi but its own ancient branch, with its own liturgy (the nusach italki), its own Roman-Jewish dialect, and — most deliciously for the visitor — its own cuisine, cooked continuously for longer than most countries have existed.

From Portico to ghetto

The quarter by the Tiber tells the story in stone. The Portico d’Ottavia, the ruined Augustan colonnade, anchors the district — the medieval fish market built into it gave the main street its name. In 1555, papal decree walled the community into one of Europe’s most notorious ghettos: a few flood-prone blocks, locked at night, its residents restricted to a handful of trades for over three centuries. Emancipation came with Italian unification in 1870; the walls came down, and the Great Synagogue (Tempio Maggiore) rose in 1904 — its square aluminum dome deliberately unlike every church dome in the city, visible from the Janiculum as a statement: we are still here.

The 20th century cut deep. A plaque on the square marks October 16, 1943, when German forces raided the ghetto and deported more than a thousand Roman Jews — of whom only a handful returned. The small brass stumbling stones (pietre d’inciampo) set in the cobbles outside doorways each carry a name; a guide will show you how to read them.

The ghetto today — and its kitchen

Today the quarter is one of the liveliest corners of Rome: the Jewish school busy, the kosher bakeries fragrant, and the restaurant tables spilling along Via del Portico d’Ottavia. This is the home of cucina ebraico-romanesca, the oldest continuous Jewish cuisine in Europe, and its dishes are Roman canon now:

• Carciofi alla giudia — the whole artichoke, flattened and fried to a bronze chrysanthemum; the ghetto’s signature, in season roughly late winter through spring.
• Fiori di zucca — squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, battered and fried (the frying tradition itself is the community’s oldest culinary signature).
• Baccalà fritto, aliciotti con l’indivia, stracotto — the weekday canon.
• The pasticceria with no sign — the famous ricotta-and-cherry tart from the tiny bakery locals will point you to; get there before it sells out mid-afternoon.

A Rome Jewish food tour covers the kitchen properly; the quarter tour covers the history, usually with a tasting or two anyway — and the Great Synagogue and its Jewish Museum (entry includes both, with guided synagogue visits; closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays) belong on either route. Security at the synagogue is serious and normal — carry ID.

The ghetto pairs perfectly with a crossing to Trastevere over the Tiber Island — the island’s ancient bridge was the community’s route for two millennia — and it sits fifteen minutes’ walk from the classical center: few places on earth put this much history within one gentle afternoon. Prague’s Josefov and Venice’s original ghetto complete the great-quarters trio.