Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews chose mainly to live in Trastevere, across the river Tiber. Following the precedent of Venice, Pope Paul IV ordered all the Jews in Rome to crowd into a small, walled, riverside area, beneath the Capitoline, from which they were not finally freed until 1870, when the Pope's authority in Rome was displaced by the new Italian state. The newly established capital of Italy decided to knock down the old Ghetto and to place there three blocks of Liberty (Italian for Art Nouveau) apartment houses and a giant synagogue, the Tempio Maggiore. A bit away from the architecturally transformed site of the former Ghetto, you plunge into the warren of cobbled streets, small squares, Roman remains, Renaissance palaces and Baroque churches that make this area of Rome a delight to explore. We highly recommend to have a traditional Roman meal at Giggetto (try the famous dish carciofi alla Giudia made of golden, crispy, fried artichoke), next to the Portico d'Ottavia, on the northern edge of the Ghetto. Portico d'Ottavia itself is one of the most evocative sites from ancient Rome. You will be before a monumental entrance and a handful of columns which have been dug out to their original depth, at the ancient street level.
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