Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy

Jews arrived in the Republic of Rome some time in the second or first century B.C.E. They soon formed their own community which absorbed Roman cultural forms but was able to maintain its identity and integrity. For more than twenty centuries, the Italian peninsula has been home to the heirs of this ancient minority community, whose culture is a blend of traditional Jewish content with Roman, then Italian cultural forms. Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy is the title of an...