Jewish District Walking Tour
Rome, Italy
Rating: 
Trip Type: Walking Tours
Duration: 2 hours
If visiting Rome for you is little more than just admiring the monuments, if you would like to know more about our past and present history avoiding the beaten track, if you’d love to travel in time and cultures not moving from one neighbourhood, while learning about our multicultural city…the jewish district tour is a tour you cannot miss!
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If visiting Rome for you is little more than just admiring the monuments, if you would like to know more about our past and present history avoiding the beaten track, if you’d love to travel in time and cultures not moving from one neighbourhood, while learning about our multicultural city…the jewish district tour is a tour you cannot miss!The jewish community was among the first ones settling in Rome, almost 2000 years ago, in the heart of the city, living in harmony with the rest of the population and enjoying a very considerable freedom, this was an example of religious tolerance that unfortunately was not later extended to any of the reformed christian creeds: Roman Jews were forced to live enclosed in the ghetto, between 1500s and 1800s, they were imposed a curfew and several restrictions and the sad crumbling remains of this walled district, known as "Ghetto", were torned down only in the 19th century.
This tour will guide you through one of the most interesting parts of the city, we will visit the remains of the Porch of Octavia, an imposing structure built by the emperor Augustus for his sister, and where, in the middle ages the most important fish market of the city was located. In this market, jewish women used to collect the market waste in order to cook their famous fish broth. We will travel from the roman age trough the middle ages and the renaissance when, important roman families settled there and built their noble palaces. On the inscriptions all over this area we can read about the horrible events occurred during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943-44. This tour will give you a chance to walk through fascinating buildings and revive sad but important memories of the past.
You’ll appreciate the vivid atmosphere of the neighbourhood today, where you can still have a glimpse of the past, tasting some of the delicatessen, typical jewish pastry or the famous fried artichockes!
At the end of the tour you can visit the modern sinagogue on your own and then walk to the Tiberina Island where, still today, the Israeli hospital, located in one of the most impressive spots of the city, a river island, will remind us of the importance that this community had for the life, history and culture of the city in the past like today.
This tour will guide you through one of the most interesting parts of the city, we will visit the remains of the Porch of Octavia, an imposing structure built by the emperor Augustus for his sister, and where, in the middle ages the most important fish market of the city was located. In this market, jewish women used to collect the market waste in order to cook their famous fish broth. We will travel from the roman age trough the middle ages and the renaissance when, important roman families settled there and built their noble palaces. On the inscriptions all over this area we can read about the horrible events occurred during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943-44. This tour will give you a chance to walk through fascinating buildings and revive sad but important memories of the past.
You’ll appreciate the vivid atmosphere of the neighbourhood today, where you can still have a glimpse of the past, tasting some of the delicatessen, typical jewish pastry or the famous fried artichockes!
At the end of the tour you can visit the modern sinagogue on your own and then walk to the Tiberina Island where, still today, the Israeli hospital, located in one of the most impressive spots of the city, a river island, will remind us of the importance that this community had for the life, history and culture of the city in the past like today.
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