Rome: Walking around the Ghetto

The very first ghetto was established in Venice in 1516.  Most of you know, I'm sure, that the term ghetto originated with the city areas that were walled and gated to separate the Jews.  These areas were securely locked every night.  While Rome has been one of the only European cities not to expel the Jewish population, that doesn't mean they were treated as equals.   Today, a walk around the ghetto area joins a mix of Roman ruins and Jewish culture.  The ghetto wall went up in the mid 1550's and enclosed about 7 acres that had the via dei Teatro di Marcello and the Tiber (which often flooded) as two of its boundaries, so we began our walk (found in the Blue Guide to Rome) at the Theater of Marcellus.  The theater was dedicated to the nephew of Augustus who died in battle in 23 B.C. at the age of 19.  Makes one mindful that this is the same age many of our young people still enter the military.  As the saying goes, the more things change the more they stay the same.  Today the theater ruins have had expensive apartments built into the them leaving what remains of the original structure in place.  On the side is a sculpture of fasci - bundles of elm branches used by the Romans as a symbol of power and adopted by Mussolini, hence the Fascist Party.  

Theater of Marcellus

Fasci

We continue our walk up the Via del Portico D'Ottavia, which used to be the main street of the Ghetto and is still a central street to this area where you will find many kosher restaurants.   The remains of Porticus of Octavia which had about 300 columns, enclosed two temples and was built around 146 B.C.  During the middle ages the area became a fish market.

Porticus of Octavia

Behind this structure is a church (closed at present) Sant'Angelo in Pescheria (perscheria is a reference to the fish market).  Beginning in 1584 Jews were forced to attend a Christian sermon every Saturday (the Jewish sabbath).  Finally under Pope Pius IX in the mid-19th century the order was rescinded.  Maybe they figured out that after nearly 300 years it was not a very effective means of conversion.  Another church where Jews were forced to hear sermons bears the inscription in Hebrew "I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts".  This dates from the 18C.  

Cenci Palace

Later, we passed the Cenci Palace, where Francesco Cenci lived with his 2 sons, daughter Beatrice and second wife Lucrezia in the 16C.  Francesco was a nobleman reputedly to have been cruel, abusive and corrupt.  Although he had been brought up on charges he was a heavy contributor to the church and this bought him leniency.  After suffering much abuse (legend has it he raped his daughter repeatedly) his family plotted to murder him.  It was supposed to look like an accident but it was badly botched and the family was arrested.  Even though the populace supported the family and plead for clemency, Beatrice and the wife were beheaded, the elder son tortured and executed and the youngest son sold in slavery.  It is said she still walks the bridge on September 10th, the night before her beheading.  Many dramatic works have been based upon this family.  One of the most well-known The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts, was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in the 19C. when he was in Rome.

Al Pompiere, located in the Cenci Palace

Al Pompiere is a great restaurant located in some of the rooms of the Cenci Palace where we enjoyed a lovely meal.

Fontana delle Tartarughe, Taddeo Landini 1584

We continued our walk and passed this lovely fountain in a llittle piazza.  

 

On a different day, we visited the Museo Ebracio (Jewish Museum) which included a tour of the Synagogue,which was beautiful.  Actually there are two synagogues housed in the same building, a small one that serves the Spanish community and the larger very impressive one holding services according to the Italian tradition.  On October 16, 1943 the Germans rounded up 1,500-2,000 Jews and shipped them to Auschwitz  (this after being paid a large ransom and promising to leave them alone). As in Austria (and evidently all over Europe), we have seen golden bricks commemorating an individual who was deported placed in the sidewalk in front of their home.  

Today the Jewish community numbers between 13,550-15,000 individuals.  Someone on the synagogue tour asked if there was still anti-semitism.   If only there weren't.