Intimate Strangers includes several photographs, but each of the photographs below is an additional image not included in the book that depicts persons or places or events mentioned in the book. The captions guide the reader to the pertinent chapter.
Guido Cadorin’s frescos in the Grand Palace Hotel Dining Room on the Via Veneto. They were painted in the 1920s and depicted high society under fascism. The two women in the rear of this panel are Margherita Sarfatti, the long time Jewish lover of Benito Mussolini who wrote many of his speeches, and her daughter. See Chapter 9.
The Tempio Maggiore built at the turn of the 20th Century. See Chapter 8.
Street sign commemorating Elio Toaff the Chief Rabbi of Rome pictured on the cover of my book.
Street sign commemorating the terrorist attack on the Tempio Maggiore on October 9, 1982, when two-year old Stefano Gaj Tachè was killed. See Epilogue.
Street sign marking the spot where on October 16, 1943 the Jews caught in the Nazi roundup in the Ghetto area were held until they could be taken to a prison and from there to Auschwitz. See Chapter 10. Coincidentally, it was also the spot where Titus began his victory march through Rome twenty centuries earlier to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. See Chapter 1.
The Libyan Jewish Dairy Restaurant Da Ghetto, mentioned in the Epilogue.
Statute of Giacchino Belli the “people’s poet” of Rome. A Catholic who wrote numerous sonnets about the Jews of Rome. See Chapter 8.
The facade of the Temple of the deified Hadrian, the Roman Emperor who crushed the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE. Until recently the restored interior housed the Roman Stock Exchange. Today it is a museum and tourist attraction. See Chapter 2
Photo of the reopening of the Tempio Maggiore on June 8, 1944 after the Allied liberation of Rome. It is hanging in the Museum of the Liberation of Rome, which is just an apartment in the south of the city. See Chapter 10.
Tucked away in the Museum of the Liberation of Rome is a room dedicated to the Jews of Rome with this centerpiece that should have a media display but it does not work.
Piazza Pasquino with the statue of the non-existent Pasquino, a supposed poet who wrote popular satiric poems that were and are posted next to the statue. It is known as a “talking statue.” When Pope Paul IV, who initiated the Jewish Ghetto in Rome, died in 1559, there appeared a poem excoriating him in the Piazza. I translated that poem for Chapter 5.
Street sign for Via Dei Leutari, the street of the Lute makers. It was the home of a Lute maker in the 16th century who had a Jewish customer. When he entered the shop the Lute Makers three daughters would shout anti Jewish slurs at him. See Prologue. The fate of those daughters is found in Chapter 7.
Guido Cadorin’s frescos in the Grand Palace Hotel Dining Room on the Via Veneto. They were painted in the 1920s and depicted high society under fascism. The two women in the rear of this panel are Margherita Sarfatti, the long time Jewish lover of Benito Mussolini who wrote many of his speeches, and her daughter. See Chapter 9.The Tempio Maggiore built at the turn of the 20th Century. See Chapter 8. Street sign commemorating Elio Toaff the Chief Rabbi of Rome pictured on the cover of my book. Street sign commemorating the terrorist attack on the Tempio Maggiore on October 9, 1982, when two-year old Stefano Gaj Tachè was killed. See Epilogue.Street sign marking the spot where on October 16, 1943 the Jews caught in the Nazi roundup in the Ghetto area were held until they could be taken to a prison and from there to Auschwitz. See Chapter 10. Coincidentally, it was also the spot where Titus began his victory march through Rome twenty centuries earlier to celebrate the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple. See Chapter 1. The Libyan Jewish Dairy Restaurant Da Ghetto, mentioned in the Epilogue. Statute of Giacchino Belli the “people’s poet” of Rome. A Catholic who wrote numerous sonnets about the Jews of Rome. See Chapter 8. The facade of the Temple of the deified Hadrian, the Roman Emperor who crushed the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE. Until recently the restored interior housed the Roman Stock Exchange. Today it is a museum and tourist attraction. See Chapter 2Photo of the reopening of the Tempio Maggiore on June 8, 1944 after the Allied liberation of Rome. It is hanging in the Museum of the Liberation of Rome, which is just an apartment in the south of the city. See Chapter 10.Tucked away in the Museum of the Liberation of Rome is a room dedicated to the Jews of Rome with this centerpiece that should have a media display but it does not work. Piazza Pasquino with the statue of the non-existent Pasquino, a supposed poet who wrote popular satiric poems that were and are posted next to the statue. It is known as a “talking statue.” When Pope Paul IV, who initiated the Jewish Ghetto in Rome, died in 1559, there appeared a poem excoriating him in the Piazza. I translated that poem for Chapter 5. Street sign for Via Dei Leutari, the street of the Lute makers. It was the home of a Lute maker in the 16th century who had a Jewish customer. When he entered the shop the Lute Makers three daughters would shout anti Jewish slurs at him. See Prologue. The fate of those daughters is found in Chapter 7.
