Testaccio
- Food
- Mercato di Testaccio
- Sports
- Rowing clubs on the Tiber
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
Best season April–June and September–October. The market morning is the hour. August is quiet because Rome leaves.
Testaccio is a market, a hill of broken pots, and the city’s most serious lunch. It was the slaughterhouse neighborhood. It still eats like one. The centro can keep the costume gladiators.
The short version
Monte Testaccio is a hill of smashed amphorae, the dump of the ancient river port. The 19th-century slaughterhouse, the Mattatoio, shaped the modern neighborhood and now holds museums and studios. You are walking on the city’s old trash, and it became the best lunch in Rome.
Food nearby
Mercato di Testaccio
Eat a panino in the market, or offal at a trattoria that is not on a rooftop: pajata, coda alla vaccinara, if that is your plate. The trapizzino shops are the casual version. Skip a view menu.
A game nearby
Rowing clubs on the Tiber
Roma and Lazio are the noise. Circolo Canottieri Aniene is one of the old rowing clubs. You may only see the crews on the water, which is enough. Skip a Serie A ticket.