Portico d’Ottavia and the Ghetto
Historical Center
- Location: Portico d’Ottavia and the Ghetto
- Address: Via della Reginella, 22
- Visit lasts: 1 hour (about)
- Services:
The large structure was built by Quinto Cecilio Metello (146 B.C.), rebuilt by Augustuso (27-23 B.C.) who dedicated it to his sister Octavia and, finally, restored by Septimus Severus and Caracalla (203 A.D.).
Today, the porticus is one of the most suggestive spots in the city and is, in some way, the ideal entrance to the ancient ghetto of Rome, the “zoo of jews” so-called by Pope Paul IV which he created in 1555, making it the oldest such place after the ghetto of Venice. Expanded during the centuries, it was abolished during the First Roman Republic (1798) and, in 1848, Pope Pius IX had the perimeter walls brought down. After the Second Roman Republic (1849) jews were forced back inside, but in 1870 with the annexation of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy, it was definitively eliminated.
Today, the porticus is one of the most suggestive spots in the city and is, in some way, the ideal entrance to the ancient ghetto of Rome, the “zoo of jews” so-called by Pope Paul IV which he created in 1555, making it the oldest such place after the ghetto of Venice. Expanded during the centuries, it was abolished during the First Roman Republic (1798) and, in 1848, Pope Pius IX had the perimeter walls brought down. After the Second Roman Republic (1849) jews were forced back inside, but in 1870 with the annexation of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy, it was definitively eliminated.
