Jewish Ghetto Tour: Triumph and Tragedy in Rome

On this private tour of Rome’s Jewish Ghetto we’ll spend roughly 3 hours touring the oldest Jewish community in Europe, appreciating the legacy of the first Jewish merchants who traversed the Tiber into ancient Rome. We’ll discover the remnants of the communities they built, and learn all about the rich heritage of a neighborhood that has been a center of faith and worship since the Middle Ages. Join us as we stroll the streets of the quarter once designated as the only location Jews could live or work in the city – a neighborhood once enclosed by high walls and plagued by the constantly flooding waters of the Tiber river. In this triangular enclave in the heart of the historic center we’ll admire one of the Eternal City’s most beautiful fountains as well as the ruins of ancient Rome’s most spectacular theatre. Most importantly, we’ll get to the heart of Rome’s Jewish community’s center of worship since the early 1900s.

Highlights

The Fountain of Four Rivers

The Synagogue of Rome

The Pyramid of Cestius

Hidden Gems

Via del Portico d'Ottavia
Trastevere and the Tiber Island
Kosher Food in Rome (no consumptions included in price)

Tour Includes

Private tour guide
Entrance to synagogue (lead by an internal synagogue guide)

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What To Expect On Your Tour

On this private tour we’ll walk the narrow streets that wind their way toward the river, exploring the Tiber Island before crossing to the other bank and reaching Trastevere. The original home of Roman Jews from ancient times, here we’ll see the ruins of one of the oldest synagogues in Europe. Along the way we’ll also stop to enjoy some of the tempting delights at the Kosher bakeries and pizzerias in this historically rich section of Rome.

Rome has had a Jewish population for over 2,000 years. Emigration into the ancient world’s greatest metropolis began around 140 BC, when Jews came to the fertile banks of the Tiber river and were absorbed into Roman society as traders, merchants, diplomats and slaves. Jewish traders from Israel first settled in the neighbourhood of Trastevere and by late antiquity over 30,000 Jews lived and worked in the city.

Today, one can see the remains of the ancient Trastevere synagogue that once stood in what remains one of Rome’s most characteristic quarters even today. As the Middle Ages rolled around the Jewish community had shifted to the eastern banks of the Tiber. Their fortunes took a tragic turn for the worse in 1555, when the community was confined to a segregated area called the “ghetto” by Pope Paul IV. This was the period of the Counter-Reformation, when Catholicism was becoming more militant and hostility towards religious minorities was on the rise. Almost 5,000 Jews were walled into this tiny flood-prone area of only 7 acres and subjected to harsh restrictions on their civil liberties – curfews, limited work possibilities and the obligation to wear identifying yellow hats or scarves amongst them. The walls were finally torn down in the late 19th Century, but the Jewish Ghetto remains a distinctive area of Rome that is still the centre of the city’s Jewish community even today.