The Jews of Italy: from Antiquity to the Roman Ghetto

The Jewish community of Rome is one of the oldest in Western Europe, its presence dating back to Antiquity, several centuries before the common era. Across two millennia, the Jews of Italy experienced phases of relative tolerance and periods of severe restriction, such as the establishment of the Roman ghetto in 1555 by Pope Paul IV, which lasted until the nineteenth century. During the Renaissance, Jews participated in the intellectual, medical, and artistic life of several Italian cities. Italian communities developed their own liturgical rite (the minhag italiano or bené romi), distinct from the Ashkenazic and Sephardic rites. This long history, marked by persecutions, adaptations, and cultural creativity, was overshadowed by the deportations of the Second World War.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗