Restoration of the ghetto after the fall of the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic had granted the Jews of Rome civil equality and ordered the walls of the ghetto torn down; Roman Jews had served in its national guard. Its fall, before the French troops who came to restore Pie IX, erased everything within a matter of weeks: the rights that had been granted were abolished, confinement and professional restrictions reinstated, and the annual levy once again demanded of the community. The pope did not return to his capital until the following year, but the restoration had preceded his return. Rome became again, and for twenty more years, the only major city in Western Europe where Jews lived under lock and key — until the Italian troops entered through the breach of the Porta Pia.