In 1555, Pope Paul IV ordered Jews to be confined to separate, closed-off neighborhoods. Soon ghettos appeared in cities throughout Italy, including Rome, where Jews were forced to live within the walls until the French Revolution. Italian archivist Giancarlo Spizzichino recently discovered the existence of a second ghetto, known as Ghettarello, in Rome. The Holy See closed it down in 1735—in an outburst not of tolerance but of intolerance, as Micol Debash writes:
The Papal State had a number of reasons to close the Ghettarello. For one, it was under financial stress, which could be partially alleviated by selling the ghetto buildings. Also, the Pope needed to fight against the tendencies of the Enlightenment, where an appeal to reason was favored over faith. Anti-Jewish regulation and legislation were starting to be repealed: the Pope . . . felt threatened by these changes and for his part became even more severe. . . . “Closing the Ghettarello was one of the many acts of the Papal State to put pressure on the Jews in order to force them to give up on their religion and identity,” explained Spizzichino.
Read more on Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.629346