Hanukkah at Piazza Barberini (lighting of the Jewish candelabrum)

Hanukkah 2025 in Piazza Barberini

The 37th Roman edition of the lighting of the Jewish candelabrum was held starting from Sunday, December 14, 2025, with the main ceremony set for 6:00 PM in Piazza Barberini, and continued for the eight days of the festival.

The inaugural evening was attended by the Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri, US Ambassador Tilman J. Fertitta, a representative of the Embassy of Israel in Italy, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities Noemi Di Segni, and the president of the Jewish Community of Rome Victor Fadlun, together with Rabbi Yitzhak Hazan, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Rome.

In the speeches, the call against antisemitism was strongly reiterated, while the meaning of the festival—the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem—was recalled before a crowded square. As every year, the initiative took place simultaneously with the public lightings organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in hundreds of cities around the world.