Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Rome Is Almost Ready To Open Its Ancient Jewish Catacombs

Soon, when Americans head to Rome, there will be a new archaeological treasure to check out among the city’s varied offerings — underground burial chambers containing the remains of Jews from the Roman Empire.

“There is a world to be discovered down there,” Claudio Procaccio, cultural director for the city’s Jewish community, told the Wall Street Journal.

The site was discovered more than a century ago, when laborers were building a new stables for Villa Torlonia, the estate under which the catacombs sit. It’s taken all that time for the Italian government to appropriate the necessary funds — about $1.5 million — to restore the site and make it suitable for visits from the public. If all goes right, the project could be finished by next year.

According to experts on site, the artistry in the catacombs attests to their Jewish nature, including depictions of menorahs and Torah scrolls, in addition to Hebrew inscriptions referring to synagogues then present in the city.

Villa Torlonia has a complicated history; it was a sometime residence of dictator Benito Mussolini, who signed anti-Jewish legislation and helped send thousands of Italian Jews to death camps.

_Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.