The Jewish Ghetto

The word "ghetto" is actually an Italian word. It may come from the word "getto," which in the Venetian dialect means "slag." This may refer to "La Giudicca" in Venice which was an island for Jewish inhabitants (think The Merchant of Venice) as well as a deposit for slag (some say) or the word "ghetto" may be short for "borghetto," a little village. This second explanation sounds more reasonable.

In the southern part of the ancient city lies the Jewish ghetto, between the Campo dei Fiori and the Largo Argentina. There is a large synagogue here that doubles as a Jewish museum and a number of kosher shops. This place is famous for the "carciofi alla giudia," artichokes that have been deep fried. This place is also famous for fried cod, "filetti di baccala." Carson and I found one place that specializes in fried fish, sort of the Roman version of a British chip shop (but with no "chips"). This place is Dar Filettaro a Santa Barbara--only five euro for two large pieces. This was some of the best fried fish I've ever had (sorry, England), and relatively cheap.







Later, we went back to the ghetto with AnneMarie and Maren and tried another authentic kosher restaurant. This time, we had the fried artichoke, some cod (not quite as good of the first), an artichoke salad with lemon, and suppli di riso. Suppli di riso is a rice ball stuffed with meat or cheese, usually lightly breaded and deep fried. You can usually find these at local bakeries. The fried artichoke was a little surprising. I thought it would be battered and fried, but it was just fried. The leaves were a little like potato chips, and the inside was basically steamed. Since it was fried whole, the "choke" was still inside. It was a little tricky to eat around this.