Testaccio & Ostiense – Local tips (relaxing)

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.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
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.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
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.

Details about this spot (Show on map)
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

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.

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