Presentation of “Il ghetto di Roma”

Presentation of “Il ghetto di Roma – History of a Jewish Community” (Carocci) by Serena Di Nepi. Laura Gaffuri and Chiara Pilocane will be in conversation with the book’s author; Dario Disegni will introduce the book.

From 1555 to 1870, with brief interruptions during the years of the Roman Republics, the Jews of Rome were forced to live in a neighborhood separated from the rest of the city, surrounded by walls and with gates that closed from dusk till dawn. This volume traces the profile of the Jewish community through the major historical events of these three centuries, from the Italian Wars to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the Risorgimento. The Jews of Rome were able to cope with discrimination, forced baptisms, economic hardship, and, for the most part, remained Jews even under difficult conditions. The story of a group determined to maintain its religious difference in a hostile and persecutory society, yet, in its own way, capable of welcoming a minority, is retraced through the tale of journeys, conflicts, encounters, more or less well-known protagonists, precious objects, and lost books. With the unification of Italy, the ghetto was dismantled precisely because it was an icon of an era of intolerance, which was thought to be over but which, however, remained and remains engraved in the memory of Rome’s Jews, who still today consider the neighborhood a unique and significant space in their lives.

Serena Di Nepi
Teaches Modern History at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests focus on the history of religious minorities, with particular reference to the Jewish community during the centuries of the ghetto, and the history of Mediterranean slavery. Her publications include: Surviving the Ghetto: For a Social History of the Jewish Community in the Sixteenth Century (Viella, 2013; English edition, Brill, 2020); The Boundaries of Salvation: Slavery, Conversion, and Freedom in Early Modern Rome (Viella, 2022); Rome 1524: The Chapters of Daniel of Pisa and the Birth of a New Jewish Community (with B. Cooperman, A. Esposito, P. Savy; Giuntina, 2025).