Lucky Holidays - Holiday Location - Rome

Testaccio is the 20th rione of Rome, deriving its name from “Monte dei Cocci” (mound of pottery). Testaccio comes from the Latin testae, meaning crockery or broken terracotta pieces, cocci in modern Italian. A mound of broken amphorae standing 35 metres high used for importing olive oil into ancient Rome and then stacked over centuries creating the artificial hill.
It is located behind what used to be the principal river port of Rome, Ripa Grande. Goods and raw materials arrived at the seaport of Ostia and then were transported along the Tiber on barges.

Life in Testaccio is divided in two distinct areas. Via Galvani is the virtual watershed between the popular and daily-life area and the chaotic and nightlife area.
On one side there is Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice, the heart of the rione and place for social gatherings, on the other side there is Monte Testaccio with its nightclubs and its “movida”.

The area around Santa Maria Liberatrice is a net of streets and old Roman buildings, most of which have huge charming inner courtyards. They are kind of boroughs in the borough, places where you can experience the true roman life out of the time space dimension. If you find a half-closed gate, we suggest you that you take advantage of it, with respect for private property, obviously.

Here you can have lazy walks while eating an ice cream bought at the Gelateria, at number 5 of the square, not far from the Vittoria theatre. You can have lunch at “Augustarello”(Via Giovanni Branca), one of the most known trattorie for Roman traditional dishes, or at “Felice” (Via Mastro Giorgio), famous for his abbacchio scottadito (grilled lamb chops).

You can wander around the market of Piazza Testaccio, a place where the roman tradition has remained uncorrupted, also for the products sold, almost all produced in the lands of the Lazio region. You can have a look at the fish stall of Rosa Trunca, the proud mother of the famous Italian actress Jasmine, or at the Mastroianni stall, run by the immortal Marcello’s cousin.

Do not miss a carbonara (spaghetti with eggs, bacon and pecorino cheese) at the “Cantinone”, also in Piazza Testaccio; nor a visit to the “Ferdinando” bakery on Via Luca Della Robbia. If you are looking for delicatessen to take back home, Volpetti on Via Marmorata is just what you want; its windows alone are worthy to be seen.

At the end of Via Marmorata, there is one of the most particular and beautiful monuments of the city: the Pyramid of Cestius. It is a wonderful evidence of how Imperial Rome looked at Egypt, with a mix of fear and challenge.

Near the pyramid there is a place where culture, history, art and legends merge together inside discreet walls. In the Non-Catholic Cemetery of Rome, often referred to as the Protestant cemetery or the Englishmen’s Cemetery, Protestants or foreigners who died in Rome were buried. Due to the strict religious rules of the time, it is the final resting place also of all those who had been rejected by the Catholic Church for various reasons, and therefore could not be buried within the Roman Walls.

The result, over the centuries, is a place of worship and pilgrimage where you can find artists, writers (among which Keats and Shelley) and Italian freethinkers. A small but carefully tended place where it is possible to witness a piece of history of the capital city.