The Jews of Rome

The Jews of Rome are the oldest Jewish community in the Western World that was able to survive the Pagan Time, the Middle Age, the Papacy, the Inquisition and the nazi persecution. It is a living community, the oldest of Rome, even older than the cristian one.

The word ghetto probably comes from the Venetian word geto (to be read gheto with German pronunciation) which refers to the old foundry in the area of Cannaregio where the Ashkenazi Jews, from Central Europe, established since the 1300s and where they lived until World War II. Another interpretation connects the word to the Hebrew get which means divorce. At their peak, about 5.000 Jews lived in Venice.

The first Jews arrived to Rome during the 2nd century BC for commercial purposes and established mostly over the Tiber (Trastevere), the area for foreigners. When Pompey conquered Giudea in the 63 BC and when Titus destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD some more were brought to Rome as slaves: the treasure of the Temple finaced the building of the Colosseum and many Jews worked on that. Even an ancient marble plate, on display today inside the Colosseum, recalls their contribution in the construction. The treasure taken by the roman soldiers included the seven-arm candlestick named Menorah that was made in gold and weighted 70 kgs. It was kept for two centuries in the Temple to Peace, the Forum built by the Flavian dynasty, and then lost but the Jews still hope to find it again. 

This event represent the beginning of the Diaspora, an ancient greek word which means 'to scatter around' and their wandering around the world.

At least 40.000 Jews lived in Rome in the 1st century AD, even though numbers were probably much higher. Although many of them were not registered in the official records, there are places where we can trace back their lives: their tombs.
There were six jewish cemeteries, decorated with their symbols (Menorah, Palm tree, ritual horn, cedar leave) with inscriptions mostly in greek and latin which shows that ancient Hebrew was not commonly used in the community. The most interesting and famous jewish catacomb is Villa Randanini, that shows well-preserved fresco decorations, located along the Appian Way.
Pagan Romans considered cristians as a Sect of Judaism and made little difference between the two communities but the Jews suffered less persecutions because they made no proselytism.

With the Edict of Thessalonika in 380 AD, Nicene Cristianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire and as a consequence Pagans and Jews were persecuted and did not enjoy the same freedom as before. Some Cristians at that point became more cruel than their previous persecutors. 

The jewish community in Rome began to get smaller and would have never reached the same numbers.

In the middle age the Jews lived in different areas of the city, managing their commercial business and living quite peacefully with cristians.

In 1492, all Jews were expelled from Spain and the Borbonic State in Southern Italy and one of their destinations was the community in the eternal city. These are the so called Sephardic and the sinagogues they founded in Rome with differences in rituals were called Schola Catalana, Castillana and Siciliana.

Things were about to dramatically change when the cardinal Pietro Carafa was elected as Pope Paul IV in 1555. A few years before He had already organized a bonfire in Campo dè Fiori with Talmud books, the Rabbi commentaries on the Torah. After a few weeks of his election, He issued the famous bull 'Cum Nimis Absurdum' that takes its name from its first words: "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery..." and officially began their modern discrimination.

In the middle age the Jews were busy in plenty of craft activities and lived in different districts of the city but in 1555 the Pope Paul IV Carafa instituted the Jewish Ghetto and obliged the Jews of Rome (3,000 out of 100.000 inhabitans) to move into a restricted area of about 3 hectars (7,5 acres) with one entrance and one exit (later they became 5 and 8) opened in the morning and closed in the evening. Jews were not allowed to delay their curfew hours and the gates were checked.

Due to its size restrictions, buildings developed in height forming the first mini skyscrapers in the city.

This location was the most unhealthy area in the city since it was quite low compared to the level of the Tiber and it was consequently flooded more than once a year. Dirt, humidity, lack of air were the inevitable features of these places where the hygienic conditions were very poor and where life was ardurous. Nevertheless, due to their ablutions, the Jews could avoid many diseases that spread out in the rest of the city.

All the members of this community had to sell their properties to cristians and were obliged to wear an identifying mark, a yellow hat for men and usually a yellow headscarf for women (yellow in the middle age is connected to falsity and is the colour normally associated to Judas in paintings). Their activities were strongly controlled and they were only allowed to work as second-hand clothes and antiques dealers, pawnbrokers and later fishmongers. The only University faculty they could study was Medicine but they could not cure cristians. They basically could have no more relationships with cristians and were not allowed to work on Sundays. Their five sinagogues (three sephardic Schola Catalana, Castillana, Siciliana plus the two roman Schola Nova e Schola Tempio) had to strecth into the same building since no more than one sinagogue was allowed anymore. All this represented a big change in their life but the history of the community shows their strength and faith in the worst situations. 

Their conditions slightly improved and got worse continuously, according to the change of the Popes, but gave no stability to establish good commerical activities. Many of them left, crossed the papal border and settled down in Tuscany where the Medici guaranteed more freedoms.

Another brutal aspect of the time was the discrimination that Jews had to face during the Roman Carnival when they had to wear costumes and parade to the Capitol Hill bringing tributes to the Senators. All this went on through the Middle Age up to the 1800s until Pope Pious IX Mastai Ferretti stopped this insane tradition.

On Saturdays, a number of Jews were obliged to listen to cristian sermons aimed to convert them inside the Church of S.Angelo in Pescheria (a monumental roman portico converted into an VIIIth century church) and in front of the Chapel of Carmel. Often Jews held wax in their ears to avoid listening but the pope's hounds found that out and began to check them.

Pope Paul V Borghese built the famous Aqueduct Aqua Paola to bring fresh water to Trastevere and had it enlarged to supply also the jewish ghetto in Piazza delle tre cannelle. Before the Jews' only water came from the Tiber.
In 1650, some 4120 people lived here and their cemetery was by Porta Portese. In 1775 it was moved to the Aventine hill which in the 1920s was turned into the Rose Garden but still bearing the Menorah in its path architecture.

On April 17th 1848, the evening before Easter, finally the wall and the eight gates of the ghetto were torn down, without any advertisement, by order of Pope Pious IX Mastai Ferretti, the last Pope-King of Rome, who showed to be more liberal towards the Jews' civil and human rights. However, some Jews decided to leave the city, also supported by the Rothschild family to reach the United States. The Rothschild is a German Jewish family who in the 1800s was accounted to have the largest private patrimony in the world  and also financed the institution of the first kindergarden in Rome's ghetto since the 1860s.

Young Jews joined Garibaldi's national troops to unify Italy and obtain civil rights. In 1870, 5000 Jews lived in Rome and after the fall of the Pontifical State they became italian citizens and participated to the city cultural events.

In 1884 large works started around the Tiber and lots of buildings were torn down changing for ever the look of the district. Most of those people were hosted in Trastevere, across the river, in the same district that 330 years before some of them had to leave. During the first years their rent was paid off by the state. However, the most picturesque part of the ghetto has disappeared, substituted by the new modern buildings, but thanks to the roman painter Roesler Franz we can still visualize it.

The building of the new Sinagogue, designed by the italian Costa and Armanni, started in 1901 and was concluded in 1904; it has a 46 meters high square dome, the only in Rome, and an assirian-babylonian style. Some of the marbles inside come from the old 'scholae' and the external architecture is liberty, with colourful windows, typical of the time. Still today, it is the largest in Europe.          

These were the years of the emancipation of the Jews to whom no carreer or occupation was denied. In 1907, one of the first city mayor was a Jew, Ernesto Nathan, who will prove to be one of the best. The King of Italy Victor Emanuel III came to see the sinagogue but He will be the same man to sign that absurd document which are the Racial Laws.

In 1938 the Jews become second class citizens again and are discriminated as it was in the middle age. They are drawn with bestial features and described as hopeless money dealers. Doctors cannot work, journalists cannot pubblish, teachers cannot teach, writers cannot write, students cannot attend public schools. In addiction, they had to wear again a mark of their identity: the star of David.

After the armistice of September 8th 1943, Italy joins the allies and Rome is taken by the Nazis on the 10th after winning the local resistance at St. Paul's Gate. The Jews' situation gets drammatically worse.

The Germans entered the ghetto and asked for 50 kgs of gold to guarantee their safety but, after having given the amount which even exceeded the requested (also non-jews came to donate), the agreement was not respected.

On October 16th 1943 (the Black Saturday) 1023 Jews are taken from their houses in the ghetto (including 200 kids) and on the 18th sent to concetration camps. Including the other districs of Rome, totally 2091 Roman Jews were deported, to be added to other 6000 italian Jews.

Many were hidden inside private houses, convents and hospitals and some Romans proved to be extremely brave hosting them secretly. In the close-by Hospital on the Tiber Island, doctor Borromeo was able to hospitalize some of them stating that they had the K disease (with K standing for Kappler and Kesserling).
Rome was liberated by the allies on June 4th 1944 but only 15 men and 1 woman (Settimia Spizzichino) have come back. No kid has come back home.

In 1939, in Italy were 42.500 Jews and 5.969 were the victims of the Shoah.
The total jewish victims of the Shoah were 6 millions.

On April the 13th 1986, Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to visit a Sinagogue: a short distance but a long time to make it. In that occasion He called the Jews elder brothers.  Later, also Pope Benedictus XVI and Pope Frances paid a visit to the Rabbi Elio Toaff and the community.

On October 9th 1992 there was another black day for the community and the whole city: a terrorist attack took place on the main entrance of the Sinagogue causing forty wounded and a 2-year-old kid to lose his young life. His name was Stefano Gaj Tachè and a square close by is dedicated to him.

The German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992 started the project of setting about 50.000 cobble stones with a brass plate (stolperstein or stumbling Stone in english) with the name of the victims of the nazi persecution over 18 european countries (207 are in Rome since 2010) and making it the world's largest decentrilized memorial.

Currently there are 18 sinagogues and 14,000 Jews distributed all over the city according to their needs and wishes with 250 families still living in the jewish ghetto. Some 30,000 Jews live in Italy today.

To conclude this long and interesting voyage I would like to share some pictures I took inside the modern Sinagogue, symbol of the life and beauty of this community who has accompanied the history of Rome as nobody else.