In Rome there is the oldest Jewish community of the history.
In the Roman Sinagogue in fact, survives a very ancient Jewish ritual, called Italic ritual that is unique. Still today many Jewish are living here.
Today the Ghetto is one of the most authentic Areas of Rome full of bars and restaurants.You can enjoy typical Roman and Jewish specialities in the Kosher restaurants in Via del Portico d'Ottavia. Don't forget to try Carciofi alla Giudia, fried artichokes made at the Jewish style. Many tourists are also attracted by the Sinagogue and the particular Fountain of Turtles, located in Piazza Mattei.
The Pope Paul IV Carafa established in 1555 the Roman Ghetto in the Rione Sant'Angelo near the Marcellus' Theatre. The Jewish lost in this occasion their rights of freedom and were forced to live in a walled quarter called ghetto. The name means foundry in Venetian dialect and comes from the first Jewish quarter built in the venetian district Ghetto, called in this way after the foundry. Another theory says that the word Ghetto is coming from the island Giudecca in Venice were the Jews were forced to live.
The district was overcrowded and the apartments grew in height. The rich Jewish lived far from the river whereas the poor Jewish had to live near the river Tiber that had a lot of overflows. On the street was a lot of mud and the houses, which didn't receive many sunrays, were full of humidity. The life in the Ghetto was tough, the Jewish had to wear yellow cloths so that all the people could recognize them. The gates of the walls were opened in the morning and closed at night. They could do just unskilled jobs such as ragmens. This is also the reason why they began to work as pawnbrokers attracting the hate from the christians.
During the second world war many Jewish were deported to Auschwitz as it is attested from the many Stolpersteine, the German term for stumbling stones, that are memorial stones made by the German artist Gunter Demnig.
