Rome's Ghetto is older than the Vatican — a pointed historical assertion that the Jewish community of Rome predates Christianity itself, and therefore has a deeper claim on the city than the Church. Used to assert the primacy of Rome's Jewish tradition and to remind those who forget that Rome's Jewish population is its oldest surviving community.
The Jewish community of Rome is the oldest in the Western world. Jews first settled in Rome in the second century BC, brought initially as slaves from the Judaean wars and subsequently arriving as traders, freed persons, and refugees. By the time of Julius Caesar — who was notably pro-Jewish in his policies — there were an estimated 40,000 Jews in Rome. The Roman Ghetto was formally established by Pope Paul IV in 1555 through the papal bull 'Cum nimis absurdum,' confining the Jewish community to a small area near the Tiber between the Theatre of Marcellus and the Campo de' Fiori. The Ghetto was abolished by Napoleon in 1798 and definitively ended with Italian unification in 1870. Today the neighborhood around Via del Portico d'Ottavia preserves this history, with the Great Synagogue — completed in 1904 — standing directly opposite the ruins of the ancient Theatre of Marcellus. The proverb asserts priority: the Jewish community of Rome was there before Peter arrived.
The Jewish community of Rome traces its continuous presence to at least 161 BC, when the Maccabees sent an embassy to Rome to negotiate a treaty — making it not only the oldest Jewish community in the diaspora but one of the oldest continuously existing communities of any kind in Western Europe.
A Jewish Roman guide explains the neighborhood's history
La nostra comunità è qui da duemila anni — er ghetto de Roma è più vecchio der Vaticano. Siamo romani da più tempo di chiunque altro.
Our community has been here for two thousand years — Rome's Ghetto is older than the Vatican. We have been Roman longer than anyone else.
A Roman historian corrects a misconception about Rome's oldest community
I romani ebrei non sono una minoranza recente — er ghetto de Roma è più vecchio der Vaticano.
Roman Jews are not a recent minority — Rome's Ghetto is older than the Vatican.
A Roman uses the proverb to explain the neighborhood's layered history
Qui c'è il teatro di Marcello, la sinagoga, le chiese — er ghetto de Roma è più vecchio der Vaticano, e si vede nell'architettura.
Here is the Theatre of Marcellus, the synagogue, the churches — Rome's Ghetto is older than the Vatican, and you can see it in the architecture.
A Roman rabbi uses it in an interfaith dialogue
Noi ebrei romani siamo di casa qui da prima di San Pietro. Er ghetto de Roma è più vecchio der Vaticano — e ci siamo rimasti nonostante tutto.
We Roman Jews have been at home here since before Saint Peter. Rome's Ghetto is older than the Vatican — and we stayed despite everything.