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| The Jewish District and the Synagogue |
US$ 28 |
Duration: 2 hours;
Beginning of Tour: Line B “St. Paul’s”, Stop n.21 (Piazza di Monte Savello)
End of Tour: Line B “St. Paul’s”, Stop n.21 (Piazza di Monte Savello)
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| This tour brings us to a very suggestive corner of Rome: the Jewish district or the Ghetto of Rome. This zone was for many centuries, from 1550 to 1870, the obligatory place of residence for the Roman Jews. The Community of Rome can boast being the oldest Jewish community in the Western world, having its centre on the banks of the Tiber since the 1st century B.C. It has lived in Rome defending its faith and traditions through many centuries marked also by difficult periods of persecution and segregation. With their own culture, the Jewish residents in Rome left important traces, integrating with the city and its population, maintaining nonetheless their specificity. In the footsteps of John Paul II, who in the name of the Church during his historic visit to the Synagogue of Rome on April 13, 1986, opened a new age of relations with “our older brothers,” this tour brings us to understand better the faith, liturgies, traditions, and the history of the Roman Jews. We will see one of the most typical places of life in the Ghetto, the Octavia Portico, reconstructed by Augustus who dedicated it to his sister Octavia. Beginning in 1100 A.D. and for many centuries afterward, it was the centre of the people’s fish market. Within the portico was constructed the Church of St. Angelo in Pescheria. Passing through the characteristic streets of the ghetto that have been preserved, after the interventions of urban reclamation at the end of the 1800s, we arrive at the beautiful fountain of Turtles in Piazza Mattei. We will arrive at Piazza Giudia, the heart of the old ghetto where the main street began, Rua Street and a whole series of busier little streets. We will then pass by Piazza delle 5 Scole, the different places of Jewish worship connected to the various origins of its inhabitants. The square corresponds to the old border of the ghetto. Afterward we will ascend to the Monte de Cenci, a picturesque little square where the Church of St. Thomas at the Cenci stands, constructed on the remains of the tomb of Julius Caesar whose ashes were buried here after the funeral pyre in the forum. Our route reaches, next, the Great Synagogue or Major Temple, opened in 1904 with an Oriental architectural style, and it is the heart of the religious life of the Jewish Community of Rome. Under the Synagogue a beautiful museum was prepared that illustrates the history of the presence of the Jews in Rome and gathers precious liturgical
furnishings from various centuries. |
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