Testaccio: The foodie neighbourhood where Romans go to eat

Testaccio, a major port that supplied food to ancient Rome, remains the city’s favorite culinary destination.

On a warm Saturday afternoon last fall in Rome, I took two friends who were visiting the city for the first time, Boba and Smiljana, to Testaccio, a central neighborhood on the left bank of the Tiber River. We went to a twice-monthly party at the Mercato di Testaccio (Testaccio Market), when stalls stay open late and offer classic Roman dishes like cacio e pepe, carbonara, and supplì (fried risotto balls), along with wine, beer, and music.

Although visiting the market is not part of a typical traveler’s itinerary, Boba and Smiljana loved the detour. “Who needs a tourist meal near the Colosseum when you can have this?” Boba said, happily sinking his teeth into porchetta (slow-roasted stuffed pork) sandwiches, a classic Roman street food.

Rome has always attracted visitors, from those on the Grand Tour to religious pilgrims. But as 35 million tourists flock to the Italian capital each year, the city has recently considered limiting access to some of its most famous sites in an effort to curb the growing problem of overtourism.

While parts of Rome may seem like a historical theme park, Testaccio offers a refreshing glimpse of modern Roman life. You won’t find crowds of tourists or gladiator-dressed reenactors here. Instead, Romans from all over the city flock here to buy ingredients, chat with vendors (often in Roman dialect), and sample what has always been one of the city’s favorite food destinations.

I’ve since returned to Testaccio market many times, not only for the pizza bianca (simple, bubbly pizza dough sprinkled with salt) and vegan snacks, but also for the rich cultural heritage that pulses through the market (and even beneath it).

Rome is built on layers of history, stacked on top of each other like a lasagna of eras. Testaccio market bears witness to that. The ground floor houses a modern market, the first floor has exhibits showing Testaccio’s role as a kitchen in ancient Rome, dating back 2,000 years, and beneath it all lies one of Rome’s most unique archaeological treasures: a cemetery of amphorae from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, where vessels containing ancient ingredients are still buried.

“The Tiber River was the real entrance to the city of Rome in ancient times,” said archaeologist Luca Mocchegiani Carpano, who leads free guided tours of the site beneath the market during his evening food parties.

Mocchegiani Carpano explained that on the site where Testaccio stands today, the ancient Romans built the Emporium, a port that brought goods from around the Mediterranean. Founded around 193 BC, the Emporium was Rome’s largest inland port and was where goods such as olive oil, wine, and fish arrived and were sold, subsidized, or given away to ordinary Romans. During the first century AD, under emperors such as Claudius and Trajan, the area became a thriving trading center to feed the city’s growing population.

In ancient Rome, sauces, oils, and many foods were transported in amphorae, a type of terracotta jar. These jars were stacked on ships and sealed to preserve their contents during long voyages. Once emptied, the amphorae were recycled into the walls of the port complex beneath the present-day Testaccio market or broken and discarded. These shattered and discarded vessels eventually formed a 35m-high hill of broken pottery, known as Monte Testaccio or “Monte dei Cocci” (literally: “Mountain of the Fragments”), which lies at the heart of the present-day Testaccio neighbourhood. In fact, the name “Testaccio” comes from the Latin word testae, meaning “fragment”.

Following the fall of ancient Rome in 476 AD, the Testaccio area was largely abandoned and used as farmland. At the base of Monte Testaccio, the Romans carved caves into the structure of the hill. Known as grottini (small cellars), these spaces were used to store wine and other goods. The porous fragments of amphorae that make up the hill helped maintain naturally cool and stable temperatures, ideal for preserving stored items, and Testaccio became Rome’s de facto pantry. Today, these caves are home to numerous restaurants, some of which feature ancient amphorae embedded in their walls, turning dining into an immersive historical experience.

Testaccio’s unique culinary heritage is best reflected in the well-known restaurant Checchino dal 1887, which was originally established to serve the neighborhood’s growing working-class community. In the late 19th century, Rome’s industrial development and the opening of a nearby slaughterhouse, known as Mattatoio, brought an influx of workers to Testaccio. Using the leftover ingredients provided by the slaughterhouse workers, the Romans began to transform humble ingredients such as offal (the so-called “fifth quarter”) into the flavorful dishes of cucina povera, Rome’s “poor man’s cuisine.”

One such dish is coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew), which is Checchino’s signature dish. Since the recipe was created using leftover meat from the slaughterhouse, it is still based on what is largely considered scraps. Low in price but rich in flavour, oxtail stew has since become one of Rome’s most iconic dishes and is now featured on menus across the city.

Over time, Checchino has grown from a humble restaurant to a fine dining establishment, achieving prestigious awards including a Michelin star in 1991 and a place on the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants in 2003. Despite its success, this family-run restaurant has retained its simple, rustic setting at the foot of Monte Testaccio. It also offers a “historical menu” dedicated to dishes from the Roman cuisine povera originating in the neighborhood, such as insalata di zampi (a salad made with boneless calf’s feet), bucatini alla gricia (a pasta dish made with cured pork jowl) and cicoria di campo saltata (sautéed chicory with garlic and chilli).

Da Oio, Felice, Perilli a Testaccio and Pecorino are other family-run restaurants in Testaccio that have preserved the authentic recipes for popular dishes from the cuisine povera that have since become synonymous with modern Roman cuisine. Adventurous diners shouldn’t leave Testaccio without trying coratella (lamb offal cooked with vegetables such as artichokes), trippa alla romana (veal tripe with pecorino cheese and mint) or rigatoni con pajata (pasta with a sauce made from the intestines of milk-fed calves).

Today, the former slaughterhouse is a cultural center focused on sustainability, called Città dell’Altra Economia (CAE). In addition to concerts, film screenings and other cultural programs, the CAE hosts various food festivals. One of them, the Magna Roma Festival, celebrates the city’s rich culinary heritage by cleverly playing on two meanings: in Latin, magna means “big,” while in Roman dialect, magna means “to eat.”

The CAE is also home to Collettivo Gastronomico Testaccio, a restaurant founded by local chefs who use local ingredients to create traditional Roman dishes such as pici e baccalà (thick handmade pasta, accompanied by baccalà, salted cod) and amatriciana (pasta with pork cheek, tomato sauce and Pecorino Romano cheese) with modern twists.

Despite its status as one of the last “Roman” neighborhoods in Rome, Testaccio has not been immune to the gentrification and touristification that other parts of the city have experienced. Over the past few decades, the area has gradually shifted from a working-class area to a more upmarket district for artists, actors and young professionals. More recently, it is becoming increasingly popular with tourists, as numerous Airbnbs, more restaurants with English menus and food tours showcasing Testaccio’s Roman restaurants and its market are popping up.

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In May this year, when McDonald’s opened a restaurant in the Testaccio market building, local media called it an “affront to the heart of romanità” – the true spirit of Rome.

Marina Minucci, a translator, has called Testaccio home for the past two decades. “The changes began before I moved to Testaccio. But luckily there is still a good balance between newcomers and old residents, the so-called Testaccini,” she said.

For Minucci, the real charm of living in Testaccio is its people, which has led her to join the Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale Testaccio Meticcio (GAS), a group that buys organic and sustainably produced food directly from local farmers. On Thursday evenings, Minucci and her fellow GAS members meet a stone’s throw from Monte Testaccio to pick up the fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy products and meats that farmers bring to town.

In a way, the group’s meetings reflect the area’s historic role in food distribution, transformed into a sustainable, community-driven initiative. Their shared love of food has also fostered lasting friendships and large community dinners at local restaurants. Minucci says their next meeting is just around the corner: a Christmas dinner, where they will enjoy traditional Roman dishes originating in Testaccio and toast the coming year.

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