In Italy, archaeologists recently unearthed 38 tombs that seem to have been part of a larger Jewish necropolis. Sarah Bond writes:
The so-called Campus Iudeorum [“field of the Jews”] has long been known from literary sources; however, the recent excavations . . . in Rome’s hip Trastevere district provide material evidence for its existence. The graves date to the city’s late-medieval period, circa 1300-1600.
Most of the bodies were male, inhumed in wooden coffins nailed shut, although two women were also found. These women were wearing golden rings. An inscription in Hebrew was also recovered. . . .
The history of Rome’s Jewish population stretches back to classical antiquity. . . . Rather than above-ground cemeteries, the Jews of Rome often [used] a number of underground catacombs that lie further outside the city. . . . In 1602, the Italian catacomb explorer Antonio Bosio first discovered what he called a “Jewish catacomb” along the via Portuense, though [some] historians . . . have recently called into question the extent to which these burial areas were exclusively reserved for the Jewish population. Jewish tombs (often denoted with Jewish symbols such as a menorah, an ark, or a ram’s horn) appear on a number of burial spaces throughout Rome’s extensive catacomb system. Jews were often buried in close proximity to Christian and pagan burial spots as well.
Read more on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2017/03/24/archaeologists-discover-one-of-romes-lost-jewish-cemeteries/