[4] It was afterwards a Numidian stronghold, and under the Caesars became a fashionable residential city and one of the chief centres of Christianity in North Africa.

In the 17th century, a Kasbah of Le Kef was built to house a permanent garrison (ujaq); the construction was completed by the addition of fortified ramparts in 1740.

This did not however prevent the taking and pillaging of the city by the Algerians in 1756, nor the occupation by the French military from 1881, following the partial collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

[14] A legacy of the old local Jewish community, the synagogue of the Ghriba is the object of veneration by Jews of the region, who come in pilgrimage each year during the week marked by the festival of Sukkot.

The vestiges, well preserved, of a three-naved Roman basilica dating from the beginning of the 5th century named Dar El Kous, dedicated to Saint Peter, have been discovered.

First, a typical regional bread, mjamaa or khobz el aid, is prepared at festival times, covered with an egg and decorated with pastry.

Second, borzgane is a type of couscous lightly sweetened by alternating layers of dry fruits, dates, and lamb meat.

In sports, the Olympique du Kef, city soccer club founded in 1922 won the 2009-2010 League II Championship.

[citation needed] The El Kef Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education runs the annual Tunisian Women's Soccer Championship.

[citation needed] El Kef has had a sister-city relationship since 1993 with Bourg-en-Bresse, France, officially sealed in 1999 and 2000 with the signing of an agreement of exchange and friendship.

In 1855, John Henry Newman published a novel, Callista, which was set in Sicca Veneria in the 3rd century AD (Roman era).