Bologna’s Jewish Ghetto Unveiled: A Tourist’s Guide to Italy’s Medieval Wonders
The Jewish Ghetto of Bologna is a medieval urban jewel located between the Two Towers and the university district. Noteworthy is Via dell’Inferno.
In the historic center of Bologna, a neighborhood full of narrow streets, passages suspended from one house to another, covered bridges, and buildings with small doors and windows develops. This area, with a characteristic medieval flavor, is the fascinating Former Jewish Ghetto. In fact, the Jewish community of Bologna lived in this area of the city until 1569 and between 1586 and 1593, the year in which the Jews were definitively expelled from Bologna. Nine hundred people had to abandon the city, and for over two centuries, any organized Jewish group was forbidden to live there.
A Closed Neighborhood
At the time, the ghetto was a closed neighborhood with three gates: the first was located at the beginning of Via de’ Giudei, the second on Via Oberdan, and the third between Via del Carro and Via Zamboni (of which there are still traces). These gates, guarded 24 hours a day by guards, were opened at dawn and closed at sunset.
Points of Interest: Exploring the Ghetto
I recommend you start your tour from Via de’ Giudei, leaving behind the two wonderful towers that are the symbol of Bologna, and walk along it, letting yourself be carried into the narrow spaces of the Ex Ghetto along Via dell’Inferno. These places were once a frenetic crossroads with bankers and merchants who practiced their trades, the only ones they were authorized to carry out.
Via dell’Inferno
Hell’s Way, a street with a dark name, is the main street of the Ghetto and crosses its entire width. Its name probably derives from the fact that this street, in particular, was full of blacksmith shops who, working with fire, recalled and evoked the flames of hell.
Today, arriving in the ghetto, perhaps from the noisy and wide Via Irnerio, it is impossible not to be immediately fascinated by the narrow, colorful streets and the silence of this neighborhood. Among the colorful houses, windows, and doors, you will walk on stretches of cobblestone pavement, under vaults and arches.
Among these streets were the artisans’ workshops and all the activities necessary for the life of this neighborhood. Among the points of interest to visit in the Ghetto, don’t miss a visit to Piazza San Martino, under the Uguzzoni Tower (Vicolo Mandria, 1), to the Synagogue (Via Gombruti, 9), to Palazzo Bocchi (Via Goito, 16), to Palazzo Manzoli-Malvasia (Via Zamboni, 14 – the only entrance to the ghetto still recognizable), to Piazzetta Marco Biagi (in honor of the professor and labor lawyer assassinated in 2002), and of course to the Jewish Museum.
A Curious Note
A curiosity: Jews passing through Bologna could only stay in one hotel, the one that still exists today and is called “Al Cappello Rosso” (Via Fusari, 9). The hotel was called this because of the red hat that Jews had to wear at that time in history as a sign of recognition.
Today, the Ex Ghetto Ebraico is an area that has been included in an interesting urban redevelopment project to promote trade, revalue areas of the center, and sensitize people to respect places. The symbol of this project is porcelain tiles in the shape of an open hand, the Jewish representation of the “Hand of Miriam”, linked to the five books of the Torah. In addition to this meaning, these tiles, which you will find hanging along the streets and in the materials and on the window stickers of the shops, also want to remember the things made by hand, of quality craftsmanship, typical of the trades that were once carried out here in the ancient workshops.
Enjoy a shopping trip among the wonderful creations of these artisans, including shoes, clothes, jewelry, and paintings, and finish with a coffee or an aperitif sitting in one of the many intimate places that you will find in this area, truly unique in flavor, among the most interesting attractions of Bologna.