Wednesday June 12 – afternoon
After the rather debilitating tour of the Colosseum and surrounds, we wandered (staggered???) down past the Palace of Venice, and eventually found a lovely cafe on the edge of the old ghetto.
It is amazing what a cold drink and a bit of food can do to semi-restore one.
after a couple of quick turns we reach the …
Jewish Ghetto
The Jewish ghetto of Rome is considered the most ancient of the western world. It was Pope Paul IV who ordered its construction in 1555 by revoking all rights granted to the Roman Jews and equipping it, originally, with only two accesses to enter and exit.
Life was very hard for the Jews and it was subjected to a series of obligations and prohibitions: obligation to dwell within the ghetto and always carry a distinctive sign of belonging to the Jewish community, prohibition of exercising any type of trade with the exception of rags and clothes and to own real estate.
The Jews made a virtue out of necessity becoming, also thanks to these prohibitions, shrewd traders of clothing and skillful businessmen in the field of loans.
At the dawn of the October 16, 1943 the Nazis surrounded the neighborhood and caught over 1,000 Jews by picking them by force from their homes. Two days after the prisoners were loaded on wagons of a train to Auschwitz: of 1,023 deportees only 16 survived the extermination.
By this time, survival was the name of the game. Blindly grab a taxi, survive the crazy Roman attitude to life and road rules, get overcharged (but to tired to care), and arrive at our hotel. A quick visit to our friend in the mini-mart stand opposite the hotel for some cold drinks, and it’s time to crash.