5-9 Sept. Five days of talks, dance, literature, music and food.

Rome hosts the eighth edition of the International Festival of Jewish Literature and Culture from 5-9 September, with special guests such as leading Israeli author Etgar Keret and the Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind.

Around the Future is the theme of the five-day festival which takes place in the Jewish Ghetto area around the synagogue, and includes Jewish-related debates, books, meetings, exhibitions, dance, music and food. As usual the festival opens with Night of the Kabbalah, with diverse cultural events dedicated to Jewish mysticism taking place in the ghetto district on 5 September, from 21.30 until 01.00.

Highlights include an interview with the world-renowned Libeskind at 21.00 on 5 September, while the next day, as part of the European Day of Jewish Culture, the festival holds tours of the ghetto in English and Italian as well as an encounter with Keret, entitled Tel Aviv smart city.

This is the first edition of the festival to take place without Rome’s former Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, who died in April, just shy of his 100th birthday.

All festival events are free and for full information tel. 060608 or see website.