About Roman Ghetto

The Roman Ghetto was established by Pope Paul IV on 14 July 1555. The bull required the Jews of Rome, which had existed as a community since before Christian times and which numbered about 2,000 at the time, to live in the ghetto. The ghetto was a walled quarter with its gates locked at night. The wall was built under the direction of the architect Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi. The cost of the wall's construction, 300 Roman scudi, had to be paid by the Jewish community. The area of Rome chosen for the ghetto was one of the most undesirable quarters of the city, subject to constant flooding by the Tiber River, but where Jews amounted already to 80% of the population. At the time of its founding, the area was a trapezoid whose bases (parallel to the river) measured respectively 270 m (890 ft) (near the Tiber) and 180 m (590 ft), and whose sides was about 150 m (490 ft) long. The wall started from Ponte Fabricio reaching the Portico d'Ottavia; from there it run along today's Via del Portico d'Ottavia (not including the ancient fish market (Italian: La Pescheria); at Piazza Giudea (which was cut in two) it bent again running along Vicolo Cenci (today Via del Progresso) until it reached the Tiber again. The total area amounted to three hectares. At the time of Sixtus V (late 1580s), roughly 3,500 inhabitants were living in inhuman conditions. The Papal States ceased to exist on 20 September 1870 when they were incorporated in the Kingdom of Italy. With this the requirement that Jews live in the Ghetto came to an end. The ghetto walls were torn down in 1888 and the ghetto was almost completely demolished. On the resulting area the new Synagogue of Rome and apartment buildings were erected.