Above: Looking up Via del Portico d’Ottavia in Rome

It’s possible to pass from one side of Rome’s Jewish Ghetto to the other without even noticing it’s there. Much of it was demolished in the late 19th century, but, for once, the destruction wasn’t caused by anti-Semitism. The street plan of the neighborhood was redrawn in an effort to make it more livable, and few people mourned the loss of the ghetto’s narrow, airless lanes.

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