Testaccio: a guide to Rome's neighbourhood of Roman food

Testaccio at a glance: where, for whom, when

Testaccio is rione XX, the last of Rome's historic districts, created in 1921. Its grid plan dates from the late 19th century, when the fast-growing city built workers' housing here next to the new slaughterhouse. But the site is much older: in antiquity it was Rome's river port, the Emporium, where boats coming up from Ostia unloaded oil, wine and grain into large warehouses.

The neighbourhood is easy to explore on foot: it fits into a flat rectangle about a kilometre across, between Via Marmorata, the Lungotevere and the city walls. It suits travellers who want to see a lived-in Rome, without a famous monument on every corner, and above all those who travel to eat. Come in the morning for the market, or in the late afternoon to combine the pyramid, the cemetery and dinner. On Sundays the market is closed and the cemetery closes at 13:00.

Testaccio Market

The covered market (Mercato di Testaccio, Via Lorenzo Ghiberti) is the heart of neighbourhood life. In 2012 it left Piazza Testaccio for a modern building with openwork brick façades, between Via Galvani and Via Volta. You can enter from Via Beniamino Franklin, Via Alessandro Volta, Via Aldo Manuzio or Via Lorenzo Ghiberti. It is open Monday to Saturday from 7:00 to 15:30 and closed on Sundays.

Stalls selling fruit and vegetables, meat, cheese and fish sit alongside street food counters where you eat standing up or at a few tables: sandwiches filled with slow-cooked stews, supplì, pasta, pizza al taglio. Arrive before noon: around 13:00 the food counters are packed and some stalls start packing up. It is a good spot for a quick, cheap lunch between visits.

The old market square, Piazza Testaccio, got back its Fountain of the Amphorae in 2015. Designed by Pietro Lombardi in 1926 for this very square, it had been moved near the Tiber for eighty years. Its travertine amphorae recall the nearby Monte dei Cocci, the symbol of the neighbourhood.

Monte dei Cocci, a hill of amphorae

Monte Testaccio, which Romans call Monte dei Cocci ("hill of shards"), gave the neighbourhood its name. This artificial hill, 54 metres high and about a kilometre around, is made entirely of amphora fragments, mostly from olive oil amphorae shipped from Spain. Once emptied in the port warehouses, they could not be reused: they were broken and the pieces were stacked methodically. This organised dump was in use from the age of Augustus until the middle of the 3rd century.

The hill can only be visited by reservation, according to a calendar published by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina: €4 (reduced €3), booking on 060608 (call centre open every day from 9:00 to 19:00). The booking gives access to the site, not a guided tour. The path is not wheelchair accessible, there are no toilets and picking up shards is forbidden. Even without climbing it, you can see the shards poking through the walls of the restaurants and bars dug into the foot of the hill along Via di Monte Testaccio.

The Pyramid of Cestius and Porta San Paolo

At the southern end of the neighbourhood, the Pyramid of Cestius (Piramide Cestia) stands against the Aurelian Walls. This white marble tomb, about 36 metres high, was built at the end of the 1st century BC for the magistrate Gaius Cestius, at a time when Egypt was fashionable in Rome. Its inscription states that it was built in 330 days. It is the only funerary monument of this style preserved in Rome; it was incorporated into the walls in the 3rd century, which saved it.

You can see it freely from the street and from the neighbouring cemetery. The interior, with its painted burial chamber, only opens on occasional dates: in October 2026, on Saturdays 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 at 16:30, 17:30 and 18:30, for a 45-minute self-guided visit, free but with compulsory online booking, announced on the website of the Soprintendenza Speciale di Roma. Places go quickly.

Right next door, Porta San Paolo, the ancient Porta Ostiensis, opened onto the road to Ostia. Its two crenellated towers house the small Museum of the Via Ostiense, with very limited opening hours. A plaque recalls the fighting of 10 September 1943, when soldiers and civilians tried to stop the German army at the entrance to Rome.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery, the poets' cemetery

Behind the pyramid, the Non-Catholic Cemetery (Cimitero Acattolico, Via Caio Cestio 6) is one of the most peaceful places in Rome. Since the 18th century, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews and non-believers who died in Rome, often foreigners, have been buried here. Beneath the cypresses and pines lie the English poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, the communist thinker Antonio Gramsci and August von Goethe, the writer's son. Keats's grave is in the old section, an open lawn at the foot of the pyramid; Shelley's is at the top, against the city wall.

The cemetery is open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), and on Sundays and public holidays from 9:00 to 13:00 (last entry 12:30). It is closed on 1 and 6 January, for two weeks in mid-August and on 8, 24, 25, 26 and 31 December. Entry is free; a voluntary contribution of €5 is requested for upkeep. It is a working cemetery: dress respectfully, no food or drink, no dogs, and photos are for personal use only (the rules forbid posting them on social media).

The Mattatoio, the former slaughterhouse

At the end of Via Galvani, Rome's former slaughterhouse (Mattatoio, Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4) occupies a vast complex of late 19th-century pavilions, recognisable by the sculpture group crowning its entrance. It operated until the 1970s. Some of the pavilions now host contemporary art exhibitions and performances, others Roma Tre University.

Exhibitions are open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 20:00, with free entry for those running in October 2026 (some exhibitions may charge). Even without an exhibition, the courtyard and the old wrought-iron pens are worth a look, and you can combine the visit with Monte dei Cocci, right next to the slaughterhouse.

Eating in Testaccio: quinto quarto cooking

The most typical Roman cooking was born here. Slaughterhouse workers were partly paid in kind with the "fifth quarter" (quinto quarto), meaning the offal and cuts left over once the carcass had been sold. The neighbourhood's trattorias turned them into the great classics: coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stewed with tomato and celery), trippa alla romana, rigatoni con la pajata, animelle. You will also find the usual Roman pastas: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, gricia.

A few established addresses, best booked in the evening and at weekends:

• Checchino dal 1887 (Via di Monte Testaccio 30): run by the same family for six generations, opposite the slaughterhouse, the benchmark for quinto quarto.
• Flavio al Velavevodetto (Via di Monte Testaccio 97): dining rooms dug into the side of Monte dei Cocci, with amphora shards visible behind glass.
• Felice a Testaccio (Via Mastro Giorgio 29): an institution, with daily dishes following Roman tradition, such as Thursday gnocchi; without a booking, a table is hard to get.
• Trapizzino (Via Giovanni Branca 88): the trapizzino was born here in 2008, a triangle of pizza dough filled with a slow-cooked stew (chicken cacciatora, meatballs, tripe), to eat on the go.

As everywhere in the city, check the "pane e coperto" line on the menu, and choose the neighbourhood's inner streets over places with touts outside. Our guide to budgeting in Rome gives average meal prices.

In the evening, Via di Monte Testaccio, around the hill, is lined with bars and nightclubs, busiest on Fridays and Saturdays until late at night.

Summary table: Testaccio's highlights

Prices checked in October 2026. All the stops are less than fifteen minutes' walk from one another.

Around Testaccio

To the north, the Aventine overlooks the neighbourhood: allow fifteen minutes to climb from Piazza Testaccio to the Orange Garden and the Knights of Malta keyhole, best seen at sunset. Beyond, the Mouth of Truth and the Circus Maximus are about twenty minutes' walk away, and the Baths of Caracalla a quarter of an hour from Piramide station.

On the other side of Porta San Paolo begins the Ostiense district, a former industrial area covered in large street art murals. Centrale Montemartini (Via Ostiense 106), a former power station where ancient statues from the Capitoline Museums are displayed among the machinery, is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00. Crossing the Tiber by Ponte Sublicio, you reach the southern end of Trastevere in a few minutes, along with the Porta Portese flea market on Sunday mornings.

Finally, Porta San Paolo station, next to Piramide metro station, is the departure point of the Metromare train to Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient port: a logical follow-up after seeing the Emporium and its amphorae.

Getting to Testaccio and staying there

Piramide station (metro line B), at Porta San Paolo, is a five-minute walk from the market. Tram 3 crosses the neighbourhood along Via Marmorata (Marmorata/Galvani stop), and many buses stop at Piazza di Porta San Paolo. Ostiense station, linked to Piramide station, is served by the FL1 train from Fiumicino airport: see our guide to Rome's airports. For tickets, read our guide to getting around Rome.

Testaccio is a good base for a quiet, well-connected stay, with prices often gentler than in the historic centre. Just avoid rooms overlooking Via di Monte Testaccio if you go to bed early at weekends. Our guide on where to stay in Rome compares the neighbourhoods.

Further reading

For another neighbourhood of food and narrow lanes, read our guide to Trastevere, across the Tiber, or to Monti, near the Colosseum. To choose your hotel, see where to stay in Rome, and to enjoy the city without spending, our free things to do in Rome.