Originally called the Minhag Romi, later the Italian rite, which with the expansion of Roman Jewry became widely established in Italy and in one or two places overseas and was the parent of the Ashkenazi rite. The formulation of this is associated with the name of R. Menahem b. Solomon b. Isaac (12th cent.), author of the popular Midrash Sekhel Tov. The rite, also called Minhag ha-Lo'azim, is in use in Rome, in the interior of Italy, in a few communities in Salonika and Constantinople, and also in the Italian synagogue in Jerusalem.