The Area:
Located in Piazza Costaguti, in the Jewish Ghetto, midway between Largo Argentina and
Campo de’ Fiori and just a short walk from Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon and Trastevere, the
apartment is situated right in the heart of one of the oldest districts in Rome. Indeed, for many
centuries, Rome’s Jewish Ghetto was home to the first Jewish community to come to Europe
and is still a point of r
eference for the majority of Rome’s Jewish citizens. The area is lively
and bustling with the activity of traditional craftsmen and shopkeepers by day, while, by
night, its restaurants are famous for their typical Roman Jewish cuisine. Although the ghetto no longer exists – it was demolished in 1888 in order to make way
for a new synagogue and the buildings to the south of Via del Portico d’Ottavia – it is still
possible to distinguish many of the densely packed Roman and medieval houses which were
once typical of the area. The façade of the house at 1 Piazza Costaguti – a building which dates
back to 1468 – is decorated with fragments of ancient sculptures including a number of
friezes from a sarcophagus. The small workshop on the ground floor of this building is a
baker’s shop run exclusively by women in which it is still possible to buy traditional Roman
Jewish bread and cakes. The symbol of the area is obviously the Portico d’Ottavia, the city gate
of which only a number of columns and the gable remain, but which was once part of an
immense colonnaded square lined with temples, libraries and workshops.
