Roman Ghetto historical timeline

Last updated on October 4, 2026

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A community older than the Empire, enclosed for three centuries on three hectares of floodplain, and billed for the wall.

Chronology

161 BC — the first record of Jews in Rome: Jason son of Eleazar and Eupolemus son of Johanan are said to have gone there as envoys from Judah Maccabee. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the start of a continuous presence — probably the oldest Jewish community in the world outside the Middle East.
8 August 1442 — Eugene IV, by the bull Dudum ad nostram audientiam, orders the complete separation of Jews and Christians, directing that they live within certain streets or a place separated and segregated from Christians, outside of which they may in no way be allowed to have dwellings. Structural impact: none yet. What you see today: the legal idea, a century before it was walled.
14 July 1555 — Paul IV promulgates Cum nimis absurdum, establishing the ghetto and requiring the Jews of Rome — about 2,000 people — to live in a walled quarter with its gates locked at night. The bull revokes all political and social rights and bars Jews from practising medicine or law; worshippers are required to hear Catholic sermons denouncing their faith and to participate in Catholic rituals during the Jewish sabbath. Structural impact: a wall is commissioned. What you see today: the shape of the quarter.
1555 — the wall is built under the architect Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi, and its cost, 300 Roman scudi, has to be paid by the Jewish community. Structural impact: a trapezoid of three hectares — bases of 270 and 180 metres, sides of about 150 — running from Ponte Fabricio to the Portico d'Ottavia, along today's Via del Portico d'Ottavia, bending at Piazza Giudea and along Vicolo Cenci back to the river. What you see today: the street plan, and the invoice behind it.
Soon after 1555 — all the churches which stood in the ghetto are deconsecrated and demolished, and Piazza Giudea, the only important square, is divided in two by the wall. Structural impact: the quarter is stripped of public buildings. What you see today: why there is nothing monumental inside the perimeter.
Late 16th century — the enclosure is not initially called a ghetto but serraglio degli Ebrei or claustro degli Ebrei, both meaning enclosure of the Hebrews; forms of the word ghetto come into use. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the name — and the modern Roman Jewish usage, ghétte.
Late 1580s — under Sixtus V, roughly 3,500 inhabitants are living in the ghetto in inhuman conditions, and the gates increase to five. Structural impact: density on three hectares. What you see today: buildings tall for their width, on lanes too narrow for the light.
16th–19th centuries — gates are added as the ghetto is successively enlarged: two at first, three in the 16th century, five under Sixtus V, eight in the 19th. They are opened at dawn and closed every night — one hour after sunset between November and Easter, two hours at other times. Structural impact: a quarter that is locked nightly for three centuries. What you see today: the gate positions on the perimeter streets.
Throughout — Jews are not allowed to own any property, even within the ghetto; Christian owners of houses inside it keep their property but, under the jus gazzagà, the right of possession, can neither evict the Jews nor raise rents. Structural impact: no investment in the fabric by anyone. What you see today: the reason the pre-1870 quarter was as poor as it was.
1798–1849 — papal control is broken only briefly: the Roman Republics of 1798–99 and 1849, and Napoleon from 1808 to 1815. Structural impact: none lasting. What you see today: three short interruptions in three centuries.
1870 — papal control of the ghetto ends with the capture of Rome. Structural impact: the enclosure ceases to be enforced. What you see today: the end of the ghetto as a legal institution, 315 years after it began.

Verified against Museo Ebraico di Roma, October 2026.

External resources

Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Museo Ebraico di Roma — The Museo Ebraico di Roma records that in 1870 the Jews were finally free and that in the following decades the entire quarter was demolished and rebuilt above the level of the river, and that the new quarter today extends over four building blocks, crossed along its whole length by Via Catalana, which meets Via del Tempio, bounded on the inside by Via del Portico d'Ottavia and reaching as far as the Tiber, The Museo Ebraico di Roma records that in 1555 Pope Paul IV instituted the ghetto by choosing one of the most dilapidated and unhealthy quarters of the city, where the Jews were forced to live separated from the rest of the population (October 2026).
Checked against Wikipedia — The Roman Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 by Pope Paul IV in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus; with the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798 to 1799 and 1849, it was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870, The Jewish community of Rome is probably the oldest in the world outside of the Middle East, with a continuous existence from classical times down to the present day, and the first record of Jews in Rome is in 161 BC, when Jason son of Eleazar and Eupolemus son of Johanan are said to have gone there as envoys from Judah Maccabee, Eugene IV, by the bull Dudum ad nostram audientiam of 8 August 1442, ordered the complete separation of Jews and Christians, its eighth article directing that they should not live among Christians but within certain streets or a place separated and segregated from Christians, outside of which they might in no way be allowed to have dwellings, The Roman Ghetto was established by the papal bull Cum nimis absurdum, promulgated by Pope Paul IV on 14 July 1555, which required the Jews of Rome — a community that had existed since before Christian times and numbered about 2,000 at the time — to live in a walled quarter with its gates locked at night, The wall of the Roman Ghetto was built under the direction of the architect Giovanni Sallustio Peruzzi, and the cost of its 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, but where Jews already amounted to 80 per cent of the population, At the time of its founding the Roman Ghetto was a trapezoid whose bases parallel to the river measured 270 metres near the Tiber and 180 metres, with sides about 150 metres long, amounting to a total area of three hectares; the wall started from Ponte Fabricio and reached the Portico d'Ottavia, ran along today's Via del Portico d'Ottavia excluding the ancient fish market, bent at Piazza Giudea, which it cut in two, and ran along Vicolo Cenci, today Via del Progresso, until it reached the Tiber again, At the time of Sixtus V, in the late 1580s, roughly 3,500 inhabitants were living in the Roman Ghetto in inhuman conditions, The bull Cum nimis absurdum formally revoked all political and social rights of the Jewish community and imposed a variety of new restrictions, such as barring Jews from practising medicine or law, while Jewish worshippers were required to hear Catholic sermons denouncing their faith and to participate in Catholic rituals during the Jewish sabbath, Jews were not allowed to own any property even within the Roman Ghetto, and Christian owners of houses inside it could keep their property but, because of the jus gazzagà or right of possession, could neither evict the Jews nor raise their rents, Gates were added as the Roman Ghetto was successively enlarged: initially two in the wall, increasing to three in the 16th century, to five under Sixtus V and finally to eight during the 19th century; they were opened at dawn and closed every night, one hour after sunset between November and Easter and two hours at other times, The area of the Roman Ghetto contained hardly any noteworthy buildings, its only important square, Piazza Giudea, was divided in two parts by the wall, and all the churches which stood in the ghetto were deconsecrated and demolished soon after its construction, In common with many other Italian ghettoes, the ghetto of Rome was not initially so called but was variously referred to in documents in Italian as serraglio degli Ebrei or claustro degli Ebrei, both meaning enclosure of the Hebrews; various forms of the word ghetto came into use in the late 16th century, and the modern Roman Jewish usage is ghétte, Life in the Roman Ghetto was one of crushing poverty, due to the severe restrictions placed upon the occupations that Jews were allowed to perform, Roman Jews being allowed to work only at unskilled jobs (October 2026).

Roman Ghetto historical timeline

Chronology

External resources

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