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Lunches and Dinners ‘Lunches and Dinners’ is a series of shorthand go-to-guides helping you find that perfect place for lunch or dinner during a visit to some of Italy’s most popular cities or territories.
Rome
Trastevere Testaccio
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Each has been chosen by cross referencing our own knowledge of each zone and personal dining experiences with those of the most acclaimed Italian food guides and Italy food critics. They range from Michelin starred restaurants to historic osterie, family run trattorie, tavole calde, bars and street stalls; all representative of this small part of Italy you are exploring. We have classified the 40 eating options in three price ranges and inclu- About the zone ded a short introduction to each of- What we know today as Testaccio fering a flavour of what you might and Trastevere once formed the natural border of ancient Rome, expect to find. with the city of Romolo separated So, depending on how you feel as from the Etruscan armies at the lunch or dinner approaches, there point where Ponte Sublicio now should be somewhere just right for crosses the Tiber. you.
It is also here you can just about see the ruins of the Emporium, a vast landing stage and general market where goods to the Imperial City would be unloaded having been ferried upstream from Ostia Antica. The unique man made hill of Monte Testaccio also dates from this time. It is formed from 86 million discarded amphoras during a long period of trading when olive oil and wine were stored in the nearby warehouses of Horrea and Porticus Aemilia.
The amphora remains the symbol of Testaccio and is celebrated with a fountain in Piazza Testaccio, the heart the ‘rione’. The fountain dates from 1926, but the urban aspect of all of Testaccio is much as it was when it was built in 1883. Contrast this with the confusion of streets and alleyways of Trastevere. Following the demise of Ostia Antica, it became the port of Rome where traders from all over the Mediterranean would unload and store their merchandise. It was also where many pilgrims would disembark ‘trans Tiberim’, or across the Tiber, for Saint Peter’s. Now modern visitors flood in seeking characteristic places where to eat well and refresh, much as before. © Delicious Italy