  All the observations available in the Chandra and XMM-Newton archives have
been used to investigate the X-ray spectral properties of 3C 33. In this paper
is presented a complete X-ray analysis of the nuclear emission of this narrow
line radio galaxy. The broad band spectrum of 3C 33 is complex. The hard part
resembles that of Seyfert 2 galaxies, with a heavily obscured nuclear continuum
(N_H~10^23 cm^-2) and a prominent Fe Kalpha line. This represents the nuclear
radiation directly observed in transmission through a cold circumnuclear gas.
On the other hand an unabsorbed continuum plus emission lines seem to fit well
the soft part of the spectrum (0.5-2 keV) suggesting that the jet does not
significantly contribute to the X-ray emission. We discuss the possible
collisional or photoionized origin of the gas that emits the soft X-ray lines.
Our results, strengthened by optical spectroscopy favor the photoionization
scenario.
