Secret Testaccio: The Working-Class Rome Where Antiquity Ends

Testaccio is the Rome that guidebooks forget because it is too authentic to be picturesque. No famous basilica, no postcard fountain: just an early twentieth-century working-class rione built around what was once Europe's largest slaughterhouse, a market where they still speak thick Roman dialect, and an artificial hill made of two hundred years' worth of ancient amphorae.

The Monte dei Cocci, the most famous rubbish tip in the world

Monte Testaccio is an absolute archaeological anomaly: 35 meters high, formed entirely from around 53 million broken amphorae, deposited between the first and third centuries AD when the port on the Tiber handled the Spanish olive-oil trade. Compressed under their own weight, the shards formed a stable hill. It can only be visited by appointment with the Sovrintendenza — a handful of tours each month, groups of ten, walking among stratified layers of commercial history.

The Testaccio Market, the Rome you eat

This is no set-piece market like Campo de' Fiori. The Mercato di Testaccio, covered and modern since 2012, is where Romans come to buy meat, dry pasta, and baccalà, and to eat standing up: Mordi e Vai (allesso sandwich), Dess'Art, Sancho, Bonci's trapizzino. A ten-euro lunch here is worth a restaurant meal elsewhere. Closed Sundays.

The former slaughterhouse: MACRO and contemporary CityLife

Until 1975 it butchered 3,000 head of livestock a day; today it houses MACRO Testaccio (a wing of the contemporary art museum), the Roma Tre architecture faculty, and summer concerts. The late-nineteenth-century iron-and-cast-iron structure is intact. Entry points are separate, and exhibitions are often free. Don't miss the "campo boario" with the old stables.

The Non-Catholic Cemetery, where Keats, Shelley, and Gramsci rest

The Non-Catholic Cemetery — often called the "English Cemetery" — is one of the loveliest and quietest places in Rome. Established to receive Protestants who could not be buried in consecrated Catholic ground, it holds the tombs of John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley (his ashes), Antonio Gramsci, and Carlo Emilio Gadda. Entry by donation, and one hour here is worth three museums.

The Pyramid of Cestius and the Ostiense Necropolis

The Pyramid of Caius Cestius (12 BC) is the best-preserved pyramid outside Egypt, and its interior is open only a handful of days a month, free of charge and by appointment. A few steps away, on Via Nicola Zabaglia, the Ostiense Necropolis is a Roman burial site unearthed in 1917 and only recently returned to public view.

The Church of Santa Maria Liberatrice and the INA-Casa social housing

Testaccio is a neighborhood built between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as workers' housing for the slaughterhouse crews. The church of Santa Maria Liberatrice, on Piazza Testaccio, is its religious heart; but the real protagonists are the facades of the "workers' villages" arranged in closed blocks, with inner courtyards, external walkways, and laundry hung to dry. Popular Rome, still hanging on.

How can I fit it into half a day?

Sunday morning is best: the cemetery opens at 9, the pyramid runs on advance booking, and though the market is closed, the buildings around it are just as compelling. If you want the market open, come Saturday: cemetery, pyramid, Monte dei Cocci, market, and a working-class lunch. Then a stroll among the tenements. MACRO in the afternoon if you're still in the area.

Is Testaccio considered safe?

Yes, very. It is a residential neighborhood with a normal street life; by evening it fills with popular trattorie and live-music venues (Circolo degli Artisti, Rashomon). No particular concerns.

What else can I see near Testaccio?

The rione borders the Aventine (the other quiet hill, home to the Orange Garden and the famous keyhole), Ostiense (the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the Centrale Montemartini), and the Ghetto. If you feel like walking, choose just one of these for an afternoon. See also the other secret places of Rome.