10 min
55 min
8
7.7 / km²
5
0
162
+13% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Staying in Sant'Angelo & the Ghetto
Sant'Angelo is four streets and a synagogue - the smallest rione in Rome, wedged between the Tiber island, the Theatre of Marcellus and Via Arenula. Jews were confined here from 1555 until 1870, and the quarter that survived the demolitions is now the one part of the historic centre with a continuous community and a cuisine of its own.
It is an unusually good place to sleep. You are ten minutes from the Pantheon and Trastevere and five from Campo de' Fiori, but the Ghetto itself has no nightlife to speak of, so it goes quiet after dinner in a way that nowhere else this central does. The restaurants along Via del Portico d'Ottavia are the rare central Rome ones locals still book.
The limits are size and Saturdays. There are only a handful of places to stay, most of them apartments; the quarter shuts for Shabbat, when many restaurants and shops close from Friday afternoon; and the Lungotevere along the river edge is a busy road. Anything advertised as "Ghetto" that is not within these few blocks is Regola or Campitelli.
What works
- Genuinely quiet after dinner despite being fully central
- The best restaurants in the old centre, on Via del Portico d'Ottavia
- About 10 minutes to the Pantheon, Trastevere and the Forum
- Tram 8 and the Tiber island footbridge at the edge
What does not
- Very few places to stay - mostly apartments, no choice of hotels
- Much of the quarter closes from Friday afternoon for Shabbat
- The Lungotevere on the river side is a loud four-lane road
- No metro, and the nearest bus hub is Largo Argentina
The Ghetto lies between the island in the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus and includes Rome’s synagogue.However, there is still much to see, including walls of buildings that incorporate Roman ruins, and there are several good Jewish restaurants.