Page 8 - Italian American Herald - September 2022

8 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | SEPTEMBER2022 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD HISTORY
Jewish ‘ghetto’: If the streets could talk, what a tale they would tell
An artistic rendition of Rome’s Jewish Ghetto.
Continued from front page
swept Europe in the 16th century, Pope Paulus IV issued a papal bull, Cum Nimis Absurdum. This decree stated that Jews of the Papal States were required to live in a specific quarter, known as the Jewish Ghetto, alongside the Tiber River in Rome. Rome began walling up the neighborhood, leaving space for only one entrance and one exit.
Through the years the city's Jews continued to believe they would get the same privileges as Christians only to have the Catholic Church object. The ghetto as decreed, closed in 1870, when Rome was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy and Jews became full-fledged Italian citizens.
Italian unification spurred the neighborhood's remodeling. In 1888, the ghetto's sinuous streets were demolished in favor of three wider thoroughfares: Via del Portico d’Ottavia, which replaced Via della Pescheria, the site of the old fish market, Via Catalan, and Via del Tempio. Wide-open spaces and four building complexes replaced the network of blocks and alleyways that had once characterized the area. Order replaced the quaintness of the ghetto, as the buildings along Via del Portico d'Ottavia, which dated to the flurry of construction in the Augustan age, were renovated.
In 1904, the city opened its art deco-style Tempio Maggiore synagogue or Great
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Synagogue, among the largest in Europe and built on the site of the neighborhood's original synagogue. The site had once contained five so-called scole, Italian for synagogue.
Jewish citizens faced more difficulties as fascism began its rise in the country. The Jews in the ghetto suffered greatly during World War II. On Oct. 16, 1943, over 1,000 people in the ghetto were ordered to leave their home with less than a half-hour’s notice. The Nazis then shipped them to concentration camps. Only 16 people returned to the ghetto after the war. While the church remained silent during this time, many Catholics in Rome did try to help. Today copper bricks on the streets around the ghetto indicate the houses where people were taken.
When today's Romans talk about the ghetto, they imagine an area that extends from Lungotevere dei Cenci along the Tiber to Via del Portico d'Ottavia. The area includes Via della Tribuna di Campitelli, Via dei Funari, Via dei Falegnami, and Via Arenula.
As with all Italians, people in the ghetto “live to eat.” As one journeys through the maze of streets and alleys, you’ll find an assortment of eateries. The local forno, or bakery, is a wonderful place to snack on crunchy pizza bianca, white pizza. Other bakery spots in the ghetto include Antico Forno del Ghetto which opened in 1927 and offers all kinds of kosher
Ricotta-filled pie at Forno Boccione.
products as well as bread and pizza. Of course, all kosher restaurants are closed on Saturday and Jewish holidays.
Another well-known bakery is "Boccione" Limentani. This is the only fully certified kosher bakery in Rome and among the
city's best, an institution for the city's Jewish population. Boccione's bakery goods are
simple and delicious and follow traditional recipes. Most have been handed down orally over generations. Legend has it that even the pope shows up occasionally to savor their goods.
Some favorite specialties include ginetti, or lemon-flavored biscuits. Others come
to order pizza di beriddle and mostaccioli