Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Museo Nazionale
Romano: Crypta Balbi
MUSEUM
Via delle Botteghe Oscure 31; adult/reduced €7/3.50; 9am-7.45pm Tue-Sun; Via delle Botteghe Os-
cure)
The least known of the Museo Nazionale Romano's four museums, the Crypta Balbi
is built around the ruins of medieval and Renaissance structures, themselves set atop the
ancient Teatro di Balbus (13 BC). Duck down into the underground excavations, then ex-
amine artefacts taken from the Crypta, as well as items found in the forums and on the
Oppian and Celian Hills.
Jewish Ghetto
( Lungotevere de' Cenci)
Centred on lively Via del Portico d'Ottavia, the Jewish Ghetto is
a wonderfully atmospheric area studded with artisans' studios, vintage clothes shops,
kosher bakeries and popular trattorias.
Rome's Jewish community dates back to the 2nd century BC, making it one of the old-
est in Europe. At one point there were as many as 13 synagogues in the city, but Titus' de-
feat of Jewish rebels in Jerusalem in AD 70 changed the status of Rome's Jews from cit-
izen to slave. Confinement to the Ghetto came in 1555 when Pope Paul IV ushered in a
period of official intolerance that lasted, on and off, until the 20th century.
NEIGHBOURHOOD
Museo Ebraico di Roma
SYNAGOGUE, MUSEUM
(Jewish Museum of Rome; 06 6840 0661;
www.museoebraico.roma.it
; Via Catalana; adult/reduced €10/
7.50; 10am-6.15pm Sun-Thu, 10am-3.15pm Fri mid-Jun-mid-Sep, 10am-4pm Sun-Thu, 9am-1.15pm
Fri mid-Sep-mid-Jun; Lungotevere de' Cenci)
Housed in the city's early-20th-century syn-
agogue, Europe's second largest, this small but engrosssing museum chronicles the histor-
ical, cultural and artistic heritage of Rome's Jewish community. Exhibits include copies of
Pope Paul IV's papal bull letter confining the Jews to the ghetto and relics from Nazi con-
centration camps.
Area Archeologica del
Teatro di Marcello
e del Portico d'Ottavia
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
