Stunning views over central Rome’s rooftops

While being one of the most modern streets in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome, Via Catalana has a very long history - one could say that it sits right on top of it. Deceptively quiet, with stunning views over Rome’s major synagogue, Via Catalana takes its name from a long-lost synagogue, the “Schola Catalana”, founded by Sephardi Jews fleeing from Southern Italy and Spain after the Alhambra Decree of 1492. More synagogues were there, too: so many that at the end of Via Catalana itself the square called “Piazza delle Cinque Scole” (“... Five temples”) is the sole reminder of their presence: they were demolished to make space for the Tempio Maggiore, the Great Synagogue, and for buildings such as the one where your accommodation is located. Why the need for space? For centuries, the Jewish community in Rome, one of the oldest if not the oldest worldwide, was detained in a small rectangle of land by the river, roughly four blocks in size, which was severely overcrowded – the bright, orderly roads now traveled by affluent families were actually made of rows upon rows of houses cobbled together on winding alleys, trying to accommodate the thousands of people living in such a small space. When you walk on the riverbanks by the Synagogue you see nothing of that, but the riverbanks were only built in relatively recent times: imagine being stuck on a strip of land subject to flooding from the river, in a borough with no sewers, surrounded by walls, prohibited from leaving after dark. This permanently ended only in 1888, but the area keeps the memory of those times alive through the shape of its alleys or the names of the streets (look for places called Rua, Regola, Pescheria and you’ll know where the gates for the Ghetto were). Other, more painful memories bring the visitors back to the raiding of the Ghetto by the Nazis in 1943. The community was almost entirely depleted. Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t mention what was in the Ghetto before the Ghetto itself was established: the “Portico di Ottavia” and the nearby Theatre of Marcellus are conspicuous reminders that the ancient Romans were once the rules of this strip of land, too, with the Portico being what’s left of a colonnaded structure built by none other than the emperor Augustus after the death his own sister Octavia. Today the Jewish Ghetto is one of the most exclusive districts in central Rome: home to fancy restaurants, cocktail bars and art galleries, this newfound upper scale nature lives side by side with humble shops by expert craftsmen or mom-and-pop eateries. And around the corner from here, Rome awaits: Trastevere, Tiber Island, Piazza Venezia, the Circus Maximus or even the Pantheon are all within walking distance, with more landmarks just a few bus stops away!