Testaccio Market: Ancient Warehouses Under the Stalls
Why is it significant?
Step inside the covered market and let the noise wash over you: stallholders shouting prices, the hiss of a coffee machine, someone laughing behind a mountain of artichokes. Now look down.
Key Facts
| Place | Testaccio Market: Ancient Warehouses Under the Stalls |
|---|---|
| Address | Via Aldo Manuzio 66b, 00153 Roma RM, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.87740, 12.47410 |
| Part of Walk | The Keyhole and the Amphora Hill: Aventine Secrets & Testaccio's Roman Soul |
| Generated | Generated |
Step inside the covered market and let the noise wash over you: stallholders shouting prices, the hiss of a coffee machine, someone laughing behind a mountain of artichokes. Now look down. In places, the floor turns to glass, and under your shoes you can see ancient walls and the curved shapes of broken jars.
When the city began building this new market, which opened in 2012, the diggers hit ancient Rome almost immediately. They found the remains of warehouses from the time of the empire, along with heaps of amphorae, the clay jars that carried oil, wine and fish sauce across the Mediterranean. So the architects simply left windows in the floor. You are doing your shopping exactly where Roman merchants once stored theirs.
Two thousand years ago, this flat plain by the river was the Emporium, the great port of Rome. Ships sailed up the Tiber from the sea and unloaded everything an imperial capital of a million people needed: grain from Egypt, oil from Spain, marble from Greece. A gigantic warehouse called the Porticus Aemilia stretched for nearly five hundred metres nearby. Testaccio has always been about feeding Rome.
And it still is. This is a market where the locals actually shop. Look for the stalls selling bread stuffed with slow-cooked beef or tripe, the pizza bianca still warm from the oven, the cheese counters with wheels of pecorino romano. If you come in spring, you will see Roman artichokes piled high, the round, thornless kind that end up fried in the ghetto or braised with mint.
A little tip from the testaccini: buy something small, eat it standing up, and talk to the person who made it. Romans will tell you everything about their food if you only ask. When you are ready, walk out the back of the market and look up. There is a strange green hill rising over the rooftops. It is not a hill at all.