Testaccio, Rome's old slaughterhouse district below the Aventine: the covered market and its street-food stalls, Monte Testaccio, the cemetery where Keats and Shelley are buried, the Pyramid of Cestius and the Centrale Montemartini, then the trattorias where Roman offal cooking was born.
Testaccio is the flat, grid-planned district between the Aventine hill and the Tiber, built at the end of the 1800s as housing for the workers of Rome's new slaughterhouse. In ancient times this was the city's river port, and the Romans dumped their empty oil jars here until the pile became a hill, Monte Testaccio, that gave the area its name. It's one of the most Roman neighbourhoods in the centre: few hotels, a busy food market, and the trattorias where the city's offal cooking was born.
Most of the sights are free, and the walk ends at the market for lunch. For a sit-down meal, the best restaurants in Rome has Felice a Testaccio, Flavio al Velavevodetto and Checchino dal 1887, the best pasta in Rome has Da Bucatino and Lo Scopettaro, and Rome's best markets names the market stalls to eat at.
Getting here: Metro (subway) line B to Piramide, then about 10 minutes' walk. Tram 3 stops on Via Marmorata. For the rest of the city, see things to do in Rome, and for a plan with lunch at the market, our three-day Rome itinerary. For a budget, what a trip to Rome costs adds up meals, hotels and tickets.
What to see
The Pyramid of Cestius is exactly what it looks like: a white marble pyramid, built along the Via Ostiense between 18 and 12 BC as the tomb of Caius Cestius, a Roman magistrate who chose an Egyptian shape for his grave. Centuries later, Emperor Aurelian built it into his new city walls, which is why it survived, and it still stands in the walls beside the gate of Porta San Paolo.
Price: free to see from outside. Open: the inside opens only on special days and for events; call 06 0608 for dates. Allow: 10 minutes. The catch: it sits in the middle of heavy traffic at Piramide; for the best view, see it from inside the cemetery next door.
Right by Piramide Metro station (line B). The best view of it is from inside the Non-Catholic Cemetery.
The Non-Catholic Cemetery (Cimitero Acattolico), behind the pyramid, is a quiet garden in the middle of the traffic: cypresses, pines and old headstones in a garden against the city walls. It has been used since about 1716 for those who couldn't be buried in Catholic ground, and around 4,000 people lie here, mostly English and German. Keats is buried in the old part, under a headstone that doesn't give his name ('Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water'), and Shelley's ashes are in the newer part, near the wall. The Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci is here too.
Price: free, with a suggested €5 donation. Open: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 9am to 1pm; closed on 8, 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and on 1 and 6 January. Allow: 45 minutes. The catch: the paths are uneven and there are barriers for wheelchair users, and photos are for personal use only. A colony of cats lives here, looked after by volunteers.
Entrance halfway along Via Caio Cestio, off Via Marmorata. Uneven paths; no dogs; photos for personal use only. The cemetery offers no guided tours.
Monte Testaccio, also called Monte dei Cocci ('hill of shards'), is a hill 54 metres high and about a kilometre round, made almost entirely of broken Roman amphorae. When the river port was down here, the oil jars unloaded at the warehouses couldn't be reused, so they were smashed and stacked, layer by layer, with lime to deal with the smell of rotting oil. In the Middle Ages and the 1800s it was a place for festivals, and the cellars dug into its base are now restaurants, bars and clubs.
Price: no admission price is published; visits are by booking. Open: individuals join visits on set dates, groups book with their own guide, both on Rome's 060608 line (daily 9am to 7pm). Allow: an hour on a booked visit. The catch: you can't just walk up, and it isn't wheelchair accessible. Without a booking, walk Via di Monte Testaccio round its base and look for the shards in the walls.
Not wheelchair accessible and no toilets; wear flat shoes. Picking up fragments is forbidden.
The Mattatoio, the old slaughterhouse that Testaccio was built for, is now a centre for contemporary art and performance, in the long brick pavilions where animals were once butchered. It used to be MACRO Testaccio; it's run by the city's Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, which is turning the complex into a 'city of the arts'. This winter's show is Adrian Tranquilli's 'Tomorrow remember yesterday', from 11 November 2026 to 17 January 2027.
Price: varies by show. Open: hours change with the programme; its home page shows the day's hours. Allow: an hour. The catch: it's a working arts space, not a museum with a collection, so what there is to see depends on what's on. The Città dell'Altra Economia, a centre for fair-trade and sustainable businesses, is in the same complex.
Formerly MACRO Testaccio; run by Azienda Speciale Palaexpo. Metro: Piramide (line B); tram 3 to Marmorata/Galvani.
Where to eat
Testaccio Market is the lunch stop: a modern covered market, open on all four sides, where locals buy meat, fish, cheese and vegetables, with a row of street-food counters. Rome's best markets names the stalls: Mordi e Vai (box 15) for its boiled-beef sandwiches, and CasaManco (box 22) for pizza by the slice, which the best pizza in Rome also picks.
Price: free to browse; stall prices aren't published. Open: Monday to Saturday, 7am to 3:30pm; closed Sunday. Allow: an hour over lunch. The catch: most stalls wind down after 2pm, and on Sunday it's shut, so the market and Monday-closed trattorias decide which day you come.
Entrances on Via Beniamino Franklin, Via Alessandro Volta, Via Aldo Manuzio and Via Lorenzo Ghiberti. Metro: Piramide (Line B), about 10 minutes' walk.
Piazza Testaccio is the neighbourhood square, a few minutes north of the market, and its centrepiece is the Fontana delle Anfore: a fountain built from stacked amphorae, a nod to Monte Testaccio, by the architect Pietro Lombardi, inaugurated in 1927. It was moved to Piazza dell'Emporio in the 1930s after the ground subsided, and, after the market moved out of the square in 2012, put back in the middle of it and reinaugurated in 2015.
Around the square are two of the neighbourhood's best food stops. Felice a Testaccio, a minute away on Via Mastro Giorgio, has been here since 1936, is famous for its tonnarelli cacio e pepe and opens every day (see the best restaurants in Rome). Pasticceria Linari on Via Nicola Zabaglia is the breakfast pick in breakfast and coffee in Rome. Price: free. The catch: the square itself is plain; come for what's round it.
The neighbourhood's main square, where the market stood until 2012. Felice a Testaccio is a minute away on Via Mastro Giorgio.
Volpetti, on Via Marmorata, has been Testaccio's deli since 1973: a long counter of cured meats, cheeses, bread and wine, plus olive oil, honey and preserves on the shelves. It's the place to buy guanciale and pecorino to make carbonara at home; its online shop sells a carbonara kit for €29.
Open: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 8:30pm; closed Sunday. Spend: counter prices aren't published, but the online shop gives an idea (Provolone del Monaco DOP at €49 a kilo). The catch: it's a shop, not a café, so there's nowhere to sit. For cheese and cured meat to take home on a plane, ask for it vacuum-packed.
More places to eat. For dinner, Testaccio's trattorias are in our food guides: Flavio al Velavevodetto and Checchino dal 1887 on Via di Monte Testaccio (best restaurants); Da Bucatino and Lo Scopettaro for amatriciana and gricia (best pasta); and the original Trapizzino shop, home of the stuffed pizza pocket, on Via Giovanni Branca (€5.50, cheap eats). For a guided tasting walk, food tours and cooking classes has two Testaccio tours.
A deli since 1973: cured meats, cheese, bread, wine, olive oil. It ships vacuum-packed food from its online shop.
Nearby: Centrale Montemartini
The Centrale Montemartini, about 15 minutes' walk south along Via Ostiense, is one of Rome's more unusual museums: part of the Capitoline Museums' ancient sculpture collection, displayed among the turbines and engines of a former power station.
Price: €11, €6.50 reduced (non-residents), or €14.50 with the 'Moda in luce' fashion exhibition until 15 November 2026; €1 extra if you buy online or in advance, nothing extra at the desk on the day. Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 7pm; closed Monday. Allow: an hour and a half. Metro: Garbatella (line B). The catch: it's out of the centre, so pair it with Testaccio rather than making a separate trip.
Part of the Capitoline Museums, in a former power station. Metro: Garbatella (line B), or about 15 minutes' walk south from Piramide.
This walk is about 2 km and takes about 30 minutes on foot, so allow three to four hours with stops and lunch. Do it Monday to Saturday: the market is shut on Sunday, and the cemetery closes at 1pm on Sundays. Start around 10am.
Come out of Piramide Metro station (line B) and you're facing the Pyramid of Cestius and the gate of Porta San Paolo. Walk round the pyramid, about 3 minutes, to the Non-Catholic Cemetery entrance on Via Caio Cestio, and give it 45 minutes.
From the cemetery, walk about 6 minutes west along Via Nicola Zabaglia to Monte Testaccio, and round its base on Via di Monte Testaccio, past the trattorias and cellars. The Mattatoio is about 3 minutes further, at the end of the street.
Walk about 3 minutes north to Testaccio Market for lunch at the counters. After lunch, walk about 5 minutes to Piazza Testaccio and its fountain, then 2 minutes to Volpetti on Via Marmorata to stock up. From here it's about 15 minutes' walk up the Aventine to the Orange Garden and the keyhole, or back to Piramide in about 10.
Planning your trip? Save these Testaccio spots into a day-by-day plan with Tourli, the app that turns travel guides into actionable itineraries.
Best time: a weekday morning and lunch, when the market is busy and the cemetery is open all day. Come back for dinner: Testaccio's trattorias are where Romans go for Roman food.
Sunday and Monday: on Sunday the market and Volpetti are closed and the cemetery shuts at 1pm; Felice and Flavio are open every day. On Monday the Centrale Montemartini is shut and Checchino is closed (Monday and Tuesday).
What to order: this is the home of the quinto quarto, the 'fifth quarter' of offal and cheap cuts: coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew), trippa alla romana (tripe) and rigatoni con la pajata. If that's not for you, every trattoria here does the four Roman pastas, carbonara, amatriciana, gricia and cacio e pepe.
Eating out: a coperto (cover charge) isn't allowed in Rome; restaurants may charge for bread or service only if it's printed on the menu before you order, so check it, and don't feel you have to tip. Book dinner, especially at weekends.
Staying here: Testaccio is quiet and residential, with few hotels; the Aventine above it is even quieter. Where to stay in Rome has two hotels in Testaccio and the Aventine. Evenings round Monte Testaccio's clubs can be loud at weekends.
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