Testaccio

The popular Roman spirit, including football fanatism, still lives in the Testaccio area where the traveler can still enjoy perfumes and tastes of the so called ‘poor’ cooking: from tripe, to sweetbreads, liver, heart etc. To tell the truth this food was already a favorite dish of Pope Paul V Borghese. And in the Testaccio area, which until 1965 housed the slaughter house, you can find quite a few ‘trattoria’ where you can try this food. Honestly they are now more sophisticated restaurants or wine tasting places, rather expensive. But if you ask an inhabitant of the area, he/she will for sure indicate a true Roman trattoria not tourist-oriented. By the way in the old slaughter house you now have concerts, plays, cultural events and last but not least gastronomic opportunities. The name Testaccio derives from the artificial hill that owes its shape to the pieces of textae (or broken crockery) used in the nearby river harbour at the times of old Rome. After a typical roman food, do not forget to walk!