Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere Walking Tour

Highlights

• Licensed guide
• Historic landmarks
• Tasting included

What's included

Itinerary

1. 1

   Fontana Delle Tartarughe

   15min

   Meet your licensed guide at the Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei. This small late-Renaissance fountain was designed by Giacomo della Porta and completed in the 1580s. The bronze turtles were added during a 17th-century restoration, often attributed to Bernini. The square sits at the edge of what became the Jewish Ghetto. Your guide introduces the Jewish community of Rome, which has lived in the city continuously for more than two thousand years.

2. 2

   Teatro di Marcello

   20min

   The Theatre of Marcellus is an ancient Roman theatre completed under Augustus. Its arched facade was a model for the Colosseum. The upper floors were later converted into a Renaissance palace that is still lived in today.

3. 3

   The Portico of Octavia

   10min

   A first-century BC colonnade dedicated by Augustus to his sister Octavia. In the Middle Ages it became Rome's fish market. From 1555 it marked the edge of the Jewish Ghetto, where a papal bull confined the community for three centuries until the walls came down in 1888.

4. 4

   The Portico of Octavia

   5min

   The square is named for the day in 1943 when Nazi troops rounded up more than a thousand of Rome's Jews. Set into the pavement nearby are Stolpersteine, small brass plaques outside the doorways people were taken from, each bearing a name. Your guide gives this stop the time it needs.

5. 5

   Tempio Maggiore di Roma

   10min

   See the exterior of the Great Synagogue, completed in 1904 after the Ghetto walls came down. The Synagogue and Jewish Museum can be visited separately; they are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, and the route adjusts on those days.

6. 6

   Ghetto

   10min

   A taste of Rome-Carciofi alla giudia: whole artichokes flattened and deep-fried until crisp, a dish that comes from this neighbourhood.

7. 7

   Isola Tiberina

   20min

   Cross Ponte Fabricio, built in 62 BC and the oldest Roman bridge still in use in its original form, onto Tiber Island. The island has been associated with healing since antiquity and still holds a working hospital. Continue over the far arm of the river into Trastevere.

8. 8

   Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

   40min

   Walk through Trastevere's market streets, courtyards and small workshops. This was a working-class riverside district long before visitors discovered it. The tour ends at Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's oldest churches, known for its medieval facade mosaics.

Before you go

Location