Testaccio & Ostiense Rome – All our local tips

If you’re a clubber and you want to meet young Romans, this is the place to be: in fact this historical club in Testaccio is always overcrowded by people from 18 till 30 years old.

Once you are inside, you have 2 rooms and a covered garden to decide where to dance: in the garden in the ground floor there’s house music, in the upper floor commercial and happy music and in the lower floor r’n'b and hip hop.

The covered garden at the entrance is perfect for smoking people who like warm nights and hotter evenings. The lower floor is a cave, with simple furniture evoking the typical stones and earthenware fragments typically found in Monte Testaccio, enriched by innovative and elegant vip lounges. Last but not the least, the upper floor has new styles in concept design and keeps a minimal atmosphere all around.

In 2006 the club was restyled and enlarged with the garden, that allows to the club to switch from disco-bar to dance club or art space in the blink of an eye.

Akab’s strength is to have an eclectic style and to change program every week, while every year it changes settings and trends to always be avant-garde with other clubs of Rome.

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Akab | Bars, Music | Entrance ladies free, boys € 15.00
Via di Monte Testaccio 69 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390657250585
Wed – Sun from 22:00

Al Ristoro degli Angeli is a good, ‘radical-chic’ restaurant in the heart of Garbatella. It serves intriguingly delicious dishes in a warm and cozy atmosphere. It is great for an intimate dinner with your partner or just a few friends. It is a bit over-priced by some standards but the quality of the ingredients used is superior.

I recommend: the focaccina al lardo di cinta senese (yes, it is lard and it IS delicious!) and the cheese platter for antipasto; the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe in cialda di parmigiano croccante (spaghetti with cheese and black pepper served in a crunchy parmesan crust) for first course; the Tavolozza Vegetariana (a baked vegetable sampler) for second course; and, for dessert, the chocolate almond cake served with a glass of barolo chinato. These are just some of my favorites, but you can’t go wrong with anything you choose on the menu. Plus, don’t forget to consider the daily specials.

If undecided, the staff will be very helpful with advice. The wine list is also interesting, offering some excellent wines from the Lazio region. Try Mater Matuta.

The restaurant is small. So, while it expands in the summertime with a few outside tables, one absolutely must reserve to eat here. Some people find the tables inside in this tiny, two-room restaurant a bit too close to each other but, somehow, this supposed lack of privacy doesn’t bother me.

Finally the service is very kind, efficient, and accurate and the green hair of one of the co-owners makes an interesting piece of conversation.

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Al Ristoro degli Angeli | Restaurants (Creative Italian) | Meal € 35.00
Via Luigi Orlando 2 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390651436020
Mon – Sat 20:00 – 23:00

Had Back to the Future been filmed in Italy, the scene where Marty McFly and crazy Dr. Emmett Brown are trying to channel electricity from lightening to their car would certainly have been filmed in Piazza Damiano Sauli, in Garbatella. As far as the clock tower goes, rather than using that from a city-hall building, the spaghetti version would use the one from Elementary School “Cesare Battisti”.

I don’t know why but it just feels that way. Maybe it’s those large, spread-winged eagles that give this school this aura of institutional sobriety. Maybe it’s the fact that the ironworks clock tower would make a great conductor for electricity. Maybe it’s the fact that this school simply looks familiar and embodies the archetype of “School” for many Italians. Infact, many Italians may have already seen this school as part of the set for popular TV sit-com I Cesaroni. Others may have studied it as an example of Fascist architecture in textbooks.

In any case, if you’re ever in Garbatella, you may want to take a look at it. You will find the school on one side of the square. On the other side, you will see a church; in the middle, a pedestrian area with a small sculpture (with kids and old people congregating respectively on each side); and, in the backdrop, some brick archways that lead into the heart of old-town Garbatella, with its small cottages and gardens.

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Cesare Battisti | Art & culture, Relaxing
Piazza Damiano Sauli | Testaccio & Ostiense
24 hours daily

Are you Protestant, Jewish, or Christian Orthodox? If so, and if you happened to die while visiting Rome in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, perhaps of ‘mal-aria’ in the summer months, chances are that you would be buried in the Cimitero Acattolico near Piramide, aka as the Protestant Cemetery.

Catholic law in fact used to prohibit any non-Catholic from being buried in Catholic churches or cemeteries. Given that there were growing numbers Danes, Germans, English, Americans, Russians and Swedes who came to visit, study or live in Rome during in the 1800’s, the Cimitero Acattolico became the designated area to bury these ’stranieri’.

Now, it is the place where you can get away from it all while contemplating the graves of the Great. In what seems like a peaceful garden just meters away from the bustle of the Piramide area, you will find the tombs of Shelley, Keats, and Gramsci, to name the most famous of the many poets, historians, archaeologists, painters, sculptors, diplomats and intellectuals buried here. For a complete listing please visit the Cemetery’s website or the Cemetery’s Information Center.

In addition to Keats’ gravestone where you will be able to read the famous ‘here lies one whose name was writ in water’, a lovely gravestone is that of sculptor William Wetmore Story and his wife with the statue of the grieving angel.

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Cimitero Acattolico | Art & culture, Relaxing | Donation € 2.00
Via Caio Cestio 6 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065741900
Mon – Sat 09:00 – 17:00, Sun 09:00 – 13.00 (last entrance 16:30 & 12.30)

In times like these, when world capitalism is being questioned ever more so, an interesting place to visit is the Città dell’Altra Economia. This is an entire cultural center devoted to the promotion of an alternative type of economy: organic agriculture, fair trade, renewable energies, reuse and recycling, responsible tourism, and ethical finance.

CAE was inaugurated in September 2007 during the administration of Rome’s former mayor Walter Veltroni. It is located in a portion of Rome’s former slaughterhouse and cattle market in Testaccio. The buildings have been completely renovated so as to be eco-compatible and sustainable.

Within the center, you will find a “bio-restaurant” serving only organic food, a “bio-coffee shop” serving espresso, cappuccino and teas from fair trading partners, a fair-trade natural foods store as well as a reuse and recycle store selling objects and works of art made from recyclables.

There are also representatives from companies operating in the renewable energies, responsible tourism, and ethical finance sectors available to provide information and services. Last but not least, there is an “open communication” section focusing on the use of technologies and free-license software to foster the sharing of knowledge across peoples.

CAE offers a series of events, including book presentations, readings, concerts and fairs. Be sure to check CAE’s website regularly or subscribe to its newsletter. The bio-bar offers a Euro 5 after-hours “aperitivo” on Friday evenings from 19:30 – 21:30. The bio-restaurant offers a Euro 20 special three-course organic meal deal on Sundays at lunch.

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Citta’ dell’Altra Economia | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Shopping, Restaurants (Organic)
Largo Dino Frisullo | Testaccio & Ostiense | +393488059332
Tue -Sat 10:00 – 20:00, Sun 10:00 – 19:00

A fixed-price menu for a great Italian seafood experience. This is what this restaurant has to offer.

But here are two warnings: 1) to eat here, you absolutely must reserve 2) to best take advantage of it, you have to be as hungry as a bear!

The moment you sit down at your table, you will notice an ice bucket with some bottles of Vermentino wine (included in the price and replaced the moment they will be emptied). After a few moments, some rather zealous waiters will begin to cramp your table with loads of antipasto dishes: oysters, mussels, seafood salad, octopus & potato salad, baby octopus, salmon, zucchini au gratin. After a few minutes worth of a break -in which you will be able to reflect on the fact that you are already full- you will begin the first courses: risotto with scampi, spaghetti with clams, and some egg noodles with seafood in tomato sauce.

At this point, you would probably want to go to sleep or take a short 20km walk to digest, but you cannot resist the urge to take the challenge one notch further: a big platter of fried and grilled fish will be placed on your table, together with one-squared-meter of vegetable crudités (aka pinzimonio), surprisingly appreciated for its digestive properties.

Finally, you will be served lemon sorbet, grappa, mirto liquor and coffee. I am happy to have survived the evening so as to be able to tell you all about it on this blog!

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Costa Smeralda da Achille | Restaurants (Seafood) | Fixed menu € 35.00
Via Roberto Marcolongo 37 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065591245
Tue – Sun 20:00 – 00:00

Coyote, this is a club located in the Testaccio area, the ambiance is very detailed and informal at the same time and the atmosphere gives an idea of being on an eternal vacation, as the enormous balcony faces the Monte dei Cocci and you can enjoy the view of Rome by night. You will find a wide range of people from their 20’s to their 40’s.

The club has an open space during the summer months and it is closed during the winter months but you can still go in the area as it has something to cover the roof. It has two internal rooms and a patio that goes all around the club. Once you go in, you can enjoy a drink or two in their patio. They have a vast menu of drinks, and during summer your drinks will be served with a bowl of fresh fruit such as pieces of melon, watermelon and chunks of pineapple. Yummy!

I like to go a little early and sit on the patio and sip a Bellini, before they move all the tables to create a dance floor, as this is one of favorite drinks but sometimes especially during those warmer months I switch to a refreshing mojito. Then I like to hit the dance floor inside, and dance till dawn. Coyote plays a mix of music mainly pop, hip-hop and disco music and on Sundays they play only house music.

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Coyote | Bars, Music | Mojto € 6.00
Via di Monte Testaccio 48B | Testaccio & Ostiense | +393394639667
23:00 – 05:00 daily

To describe this spot I wanna start from its name, Doppio ZerOo, which must be written as I did because it’s a kind of flour used to make the bread. In fact this spot was born as a bakery and then year after year became a polyhedric place opened all the day, where you can have breakfast, lunch buffet, have a tea in the early afternoon, take aperitivo in late afternoon, have dinner or a drink during the night…

Despite the fact that you can go here whenever you want during the day, Doppio ZerOo is very famous for its “aperitivo”, one of the most fashionable in Rome. When you can have so much food that it becomes almost a dinner.

The cost of every drink is 9 euros, so pay attention to what you order, and then you can eat as much as you want from the amazing food that is on the bar: from “pasta fredda” till several kinds of pizza just oven-cooked….and if you see that there’s no more food on the bar don’t worry: in less than one minute an empty plate will be replaced with full plate.

Some tips before you go: first of all, even if the spot has a fashionable and cool furniture, it’s quite small and the biggest table is for 7 people, so it’s better if you aren’t a big group; and then, if you wanna have “aperitivo” during the weekend, I really suggest to go before 6.30 pm or you’ll spend your time outside waiting for a free table!

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Doppio ZerOo | Bars, Snacks | Drinks (aperativo) € 9.00
Via Ostiense 68 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390657301961
Aperitivo 18:00 – 21:00 & Dinner 21:00 – 23:00 daily

This restaurant is known by all Romans and in Testaccio area it is an institution!

When you decide to go to Felice, the first thing you must do is to call during the afternoon and book your table for one of the two turns (21:00 or 22:30): in fact without booking you will rejected because the restaurant is always full….

Once you’re inside, you will notice 3 things. First, the “Gambero Rosso Award” at the entrance as one of the best restaurant in Rome. Also, there is nu menu (but the list of wine is available). The waiter announces this when you want to order. Sometimes you could see tables with a written “Occupato”(busy) on them: if this is the case, probably the Oscar awards Roberto Benigni and Nicola Piovani are coming up …..

About the food let me say that pasta is simply amazing, particularly “Pasta Cacio e Pepe”: it’s incredible that such as simple dish can be so gorgeous when you eat it in Felice’s!

I also suggest “Pasta alla Felice” (with ricotta cheese,tomatoes, mint and chilli) and “Gricia”, but whatever pasta you choose, you don’t get wrong!!!

Other dishes, as every good roman restaurant, depend on the ingredients available, so they change every night.

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Felice a Testaccio | Restaurants (Italian) | Dinner € 30.00
Via Mastro Giorgio 29 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065746800
Mon – Sat 12:30 – 15:00 & 20:00 – 23:30, Sun 12:30 – 15:00

Tucked away below street level, hidden by the flashy light of a kebab store on via Massaia, Il Melograno is Garbatella’s only “enoteca”. ‘Enoteca’ is an odd term in Italian because it means both a wine retail shop and a place where you can sit down and drink some quality wine rightly combined with the appropriate foods.

Il Melograno is mainly this second type of enoteca. It is run by two brothers whose kind manners, together with the excellent wine they serve, will gently ease you into a relaxed mood for the evening. Both brothers have a degree from AIS (Italian Association of Sommelier) which would normally means that you are a stuck-up ?$%&$ who looks down on people who don’t know anything about wine. This is absolutely not the case with them. They will gladly suggest the best wines and explain subtle differences while never being condescending and while communicating their love for the subject matter.

You can opt to have dinner there or simply go after hours for a drink. Every day, there is a €20 special dinner menu. Otherwise, you can choose your dishes à la carte. Last time I went, I had bruschettine with mozzarella and bottarga, crostini ai pesti vegetali, and swordfish tartare. All this while enjoying an excellent glass of Vieris Sauvignon Vie de Romans. Il Melograno also has a good selection of home-made desserts and these are sublimely accompanied by great dessert wines. I had cantuccini with a Muffato Castello della Sala Antinori.

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Il Melograno | Bars, Restaurants (Italian) | Main Meal € 30.00
Via Guglielmo Massaia 9 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065115609
Mon – Fri 10:30 – 15:30 & 19:00 – 00:00, Sat 19:00 – 00:00

The Joia is one of the most popular clubs in the Testaccio area. The elegant and chic style, as demonstrated especially by the restaurant and lounge bar, where every evening we are likely to meet characters from the world of entertainment, footballers and celebrities.

The main colour of the club is white, but some small details of design and exotic plants scattered throughout the restaurant make the atmosphere very particular.

The club is on three floors: the lower hall is the largest room dedicated to the real disco for those who love dance.

The central hall, named “Vintage Room” is dedicated to all those who love the music of the years 70/80.

The upper room, called “Joiello” (a word game between Joia and Gioiello,which in Italian means gem), is dedicated mainly to the restaurant (15 euros with drinks and dinner buffet), opening at 21:00. After dinner at 00:00 it turns into a disco hall and becomes the coolest floor of the club, where only those who reserved the private room at the table or selected clients can enter.

This is the most beautiful room of the club: in fact the area reserved for piano is finely furnished with sofas and tables. The atmosphere is carefully guarded in all details, from the location of the air condition to sound, and wants to create a state of mental and physical relaxation, a fun necessary to clear the everyday working stress.

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Joia | Bars, Music, Relaxing, Restaurants (Oriental) | Drinks € 10.00
Via Galvani 20 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065740802
Tue – Sun 21:00 – 04:00

When I first moved to Garbatella, my curiosity was piqued by the restaurant named Le Bistro close to my house.

All any passer-by can see from the street is a green door, which doesn’t reveal anything about the interior. There is no menu posted outside and rarely does one see people come and go from this place. It was becoming one of those enigmas, those queries one has about some places, until one day, I decide to go there with a friend.

Unlike other restaurants where you simply have to push the door to go in, here you have to ring a bell. After seconds, a smiling face opens the door to an interesting underworld -the restaurant is below street level- composed of a only a few tables, seating about 30 people. The décor is a mixture of a 50’s style and baroque. The ambiance is soft.

The menu is composed of a long list of highly enticing, unusual, mostly vegetarian dishes: balls of spiced chickpeas, avocado in vinaigrette, polenta slices with nut sauce, balls of ricotta and sage, onion soup, chestnut crepes with fresh cheese, grilled pecorino with honey, lettuce rolls with potato cream and blue cheese.

The dishes we select are kindly served by Daniela or Barbara, two sisters who, we find out, are the owners, waitresses, and sommeliers of the place. Their mom and dad are the cooks in the kitchen and concoct dishes according to what the season has to offer. Great evening, great experience.

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Le Bistro | Restaurants (Vegetarian) | Meal € 35.00
Via delle Sette Chiese 170 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065128991
Mon – Sat 12:20 – 14:30,& 20:00 – 23:30

Every third Saturday of the month, there is a small farmers’ market in the San Paolo neighborhood. Here, you will find organic vegetables, bread, jams and honey, soap and lotions.

In the food section, one of my favorites is Vittorio’s vegetable spreads stall.
I stumbled across this stall by chance, some time ago with a friend and remember the fun we had trying the different samples. “Try the broccoli spread, it’s great!”. “No, you try the eggplant, olive and peppers spread! This is simply delicious!” We went back and forth for quite some time and truly had a difficult time narrowing down the choice to select only a few to buy. Now, I am an loyal customer. In addition to making great gifts, these vegetable creams are a useful resource to have in your cupboard when hungry guests unexpectedly show up at your door. They can be used as bruschetta topping but also as condiment for pasta or risotto.

Vittorio’s farm is located in the southern part of the Lazio region, in the area around Cassino. He produces these small jars of pleasure with truly high quality ingredients. Here is a list of some of my favorite spreads: artichokes, broccoli, eggplant, hot chili peppers (truly hot!!), zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and nuts, and porcini mushrooms.
Oh, one last thing: I forgot to mention that Vittorio’s jams and preserves are also excellent. I recently tried his hot chili (peperoncino) jam -sweet and hot at the same time. Simply delicious.

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Mercatino Contadino di San Paolo | Shopping | One for € 5.00
Via Valeriano 3 F | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390659648311
The third Sat of the month 10:00 – 17:30

Just like Robert Neville in I am Legend, I seem to be immune to the virus afflicting many women: the shoe craze -the irresistible urge to buy shoes of every kind at any moment of the day and fill your closets with them. Yet, I am sympathetic to the Imelda Marcos urges that overcome some of my best friends.

Thus, many a Saturday morning is spent in the shoe corner of the Testaccio market. Here, you will be able to buy designer shoes at bargain prices. Why? Supposedly, these are shoes ‘da campionario’ (from samples, trade shoes). I simply think they probably buy large stocks at special prices.

In any case, Saturday morning is when the market stalls replenish with new merchandise and so you will have more of a choice and higher probabilities of finding your shoe-size. You also have to be ready to battle with similarly crazed women, who have to get their shoe-fix for the day. This, of course, happens between 7:30 and 8:30 am. So long for taking it easy and sleeping in on the weekend.

The shoe stalls are only a section of the Testaccio market, which is also a good place to go grocery shopping. So, if you are allergic to shoes, don’t worry, there is plenty to look at while your friend/s satisfy their shoe craze.

Saturday morning is the recommended time to do shoe shopping for the novelties and the variety but the shoe stands are open everyday during market hours.

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Mercato di Testaccio | Shopping
Piazza Testaccio | Testaccio & Ostiense
Mon – Sat 07:00 – 13:00

Rome is definitely full of good pizzerie. Or rather, it is quite difficult to find a place where one doesn’t manage to eat at least reasonably.

The city is also full of peculiar places, where you can try all sorts of interesting, unusual dishes or dine while enjoying wonderful views. Why then go to eat at Panonto? My answer is simply for its absolute normality, a too often neglected quality lately.

First of all the name. It should be easy for a Roman to figure this out, but I took 6 months to decipher its etymology: “Pan-onto”, or “pane-unto” -oily bread or the classical bruschetta with oil, garlic and salt. One might be led into thinking that this is the place’s specialty, but since this is an absolutely normal place, it is free from the constraining concept of “specialty”.

Second benefit: no reservations. Even if you wanted, they don’t take reservations. It is obvious that a restaurant should democratically feed anyone who shows up, included those who have not made reservations ahead of time.

Third, there is an open-air terrace -not an exotic garden, not an archaeological park, but a simple and pleasant terrace which can contain the numerous people seeking respite from the summer heat. Fourth, the food is good and cheap.

Last, it is located in a pleasant neighbourhood, Garbatella, in which you can take a walk before or after having eaten. So now the question one could ask oneself is: why NOT go eat at Panonto?

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Panonto | Restaurants (Pizza) | Pizza € 15.00
Via Cravero 4 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065135022
Thu – Tue 19:30 – 23:30

You’ve all probably noticed that there is a pyramid in Rome. Its interior can now be visited every other Saturday morning of the month with a guided tour.

You are probably wondering, why the hell is there a pyramid in Rome? Well, it was the tomb that Caio Cestio, a magistrate and member of one of the religious corporations, built for himself along the ancient Via Ostiense.

Why in that shape? Because at the time there was an Egyptian craze and it was hip, cool and trendy to do it Egyptian style, from home furnishings to hair-dos to tombs.

Why has this tomb remained intact while other pagan Roman monuments have been pillaged or destroyed and their marble re-used for other buildings? The pyramid is one of the better preserved ancient Roman monuments because it was ‘encased’ in the Aurelian walls and used for defense purposes.

Why should you visit it? It is makes for a really interesting trip through time. The guides really go out of their way to explain the ‘flavor’ of those times. Inside you will be able to see some remains of frescoes -albeit almost completely destroyed in Medieval times. You will also be able to see small frescoes of Nike (the goddess, not the shoes) and outside you’ll be able to play with lots of cats, since there is a cat sanctuary right in the area.

Note: The guided tour is in Italian.

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Piramide di Caio Cestio | Art & culture | Entrance with guided tour € 4.50
Via del Campo Boario | Testaccio & Ostiense | +390639967700
Open the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month at 11:00 (only with guided tour)

Freshly made tortellini, ravioli, fettuccine, gnocchi, lasagne, cannelloni, and crepes. This is what you can find at Renzo e Lucia’s, a fresh pasta shop in the San Paolo-Garbatella area.

There are lots of fresh pasta shops around Rome but what makes Renzo e Lucia so special is that their pasta is really, truly damn goood!! Additionally, it is also a rather good value for the money.

Quality foods are not hard to come by in Italy but sometimes they might as well be sold in a jeweler’s store. At Renzo e Lucia, instead, quality meets good value. This is so evident that people from all over Rome come to shop here.

At Christmas time, when everybody needs to buy their cappelletti for the first course of the traditional Christmas meal (cappelletti in brodo), you can see a crowd outside the shop: people religiously holding onto their queue-number and patiently waiting their turn to be served.

A friend I know buys large quantities of tortellini every time she is in my neighborhood. She then stores them in her freezer until she is ready to use them. “Tortellini in brodo make such comfort food and it’s great to have the best kind at hand throughout the winter” she once told me. So, if you also want your comfort food at hand, Renzo & Lucia is a great place to stock up on it.

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Renzo e Lucia Pasta all’Uovo | Shopping | 1 kg fresh tortellini € 11.00
Via Giustiniano Imperatore 288 | Testaccio & Ostiense | +39065414572
Tue – Wed & Fri – Sat 08:00 – 13:00 & 16:00 – 19:30, Thu 08:00 – 13:00