Great Synagogue of Rome

The largest synagogue in Rome and the spiritual centre of one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world — Jews have lived in Rome since at least the 2nd century BC, predating the arrival of Christianity by nearly two centuries. Completed in 1904 in an eclectic Art Nouveau style with a distinctive square aluminium dome (one of only three non-circular church domes in the city, deliberately designed to stand out from Rome's Catholic skyline). The interior is opulent with vivid Liberty-style decoration, palm capitals, and a vast octagonal central space. The community here follows the unique Italian rite (nusach Italki), the oldest non-Sephardic, non-Ashkenazi Jewish liturgical tradition still practised today. Includes the Jewish Museum tracing 2,000 years of Roman Jewish history, with a powerful section on the Nazi deportation of 16 October 1943.