Fabulous Food Tour in Testaccio

Friday October 8 was a mix of sun and cloud with 20 minutes of light rain.  High of 23C.  We headed out early to meet our food tour of Testaccio, a residential and commercial district that historically was once a place of industry and trade.  The meeting place of Piazza Testaccio was only a 20 minute walk from our apartment across another bridge over the Tiber.   

While our favourite food tours have been with a company called Culinary Backstreets, they do not do any tours of Rome.  We lucked into a company called Eating Europe, which had started with tours of Italy and now run tours in a number of cities in Europe.  Their philosophy is the same as Culinary Backstreets --- focus on local purveyors with homemade fare and also link up with vendors in the local market.  Culinary Backstreets provides a bit more history, but we definitely recommend Eating Europe to folks travelling in Europe.  We enjoyed all the food and other stops.

Testaccio was the site of ancient Rome's great inner-city port.  It later was the location of the largest slaughterhouse in Europe-- il Mattatoio (today the site of an art gallery, studios and production facilities currently under redevelopment.)  

Testaccio has many eateries, bars and a good nightlight.   It has a 2000 year foodie history and a fierce sense of local pride.  The founder of Eating Europe started with a tour of this neighbourhood because of the link with food history in Rome.  Many Roman recipes originated in this area.

Crossing the Tiber this morning

Meeting place was in Piazza Testaccio 

We met our guide Domenico at L'Oasi della Birra, a gourmet food and wine shop, located in Piazza Testaccio.  Our tour started at 10:30 a.m. and ended at 2:30 p.m. There were 11 people in our tour (all fully vaccinated).  Three retired women from San Diego ( two with Italian background had been studying Italian); a young couple from Prague, a gay couple from London (one of whom was Scottish); and a very young recently married couple from Boise, Idaho who were on a Covid- delayed two week honeymoon in Italy).  Domenico was originally from New Jersey from an Italian family.  He has been in Rome for over 20 years and besides doing food tours, he plays in a rock and roll band.  He is in his late 30s and his favourite singer is Neil Young.  He even told Allan about a Neil Young song that has a reference to Winnipeg in it.  

We later discovered in conversation, that the newly married guy from Idaho (he and his new wife have both lived in a number of States) is the grandson of legendary Blue Jays announcer, Tom Cheek, who passed in 2005!  Brendan is still a Blue Jays fan (the family connection) and has been to Toronto a number of times to visit his relatives.  Very small world!

Before we headed out- a few of us checked out the gourmet shop where we had met.  It turned out that they carried my favourite chocolate bars from Modica in Sicily.  A small purchase was made.  

Inside of gourmet shop

We next visited Passi, a wonderful family owned bakery, with fresh pizza, bread and pastries.

Outside of Panificio Passi

Gorgeous cookies and pastries

Outside window

We sampled some Roman pizza, which is among the best I have ever had.  What I love about Roman pizza is that a number of the traditional pizzas are made without cheese.  We sampled some Pizza con patate (pizza with potatoes) and a delicious pizza marinara, which had a sprinkling of chilli peppers.  So good!!

Domenico handing out the homemade pizza slices

Domenico also explained that the Romans buy their bread every day and that is why one can just buy as much as one needs.  Pizza is also sold by the weight- not in specified slice portions.   Pizza Marinera originated as a food that was taken on ships and therefore didn't have cheese.   The other great food fact we learned was that the traditional Roman pastas ie. carbonara and cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) are always made with Pecorino (sheep cheese) in Rome.  Great for me!

We then carried on to Volpetti, a wonderful Salumeria, in operation since 1973.  Fabulous meats, cheeses, wines, olive oils and other treats.

Meats and cheeses

Wines

We sampled some prosciutto, another meat and a piece of parmesan cheese ( I had a piece of pecorino instead).  We then had a balsamic and white wine vinegar tasting.  All very good- we bought a piece of the pecorino for later.

Our samples were ready when we arrived

We then headed to the Mercato Testaccio.  En route we passed a large graffiti mural done by a Dutch artist-- it references the animals of Rome- boar, rat, wolf and dog.  There have been stories of wild boars roaming the streets of Rome--- so far no sightings-- maybe at the edge of the city.

Roman animals graffiti

The market has been around for over 80 years, but has not always been in its present location.  It was originally in Piazza Testaccio (our meeting Piazza) but moved to its current location in 2012.  It is now a covered market, that took many years to finish as archaeological ruins of warehouses and other buildings had been discovered on the site.  Most of the original purveyors moved there as well as a number of Roman street food vendors.  Domenico knows a lot of the vendors and we stop and say hello to a number before heading to the places we will have food tastings.

Fabulous fruits and vegetables--- we bought some tomatoes and lettuce here

We stopped for some samples of bruschetta.

Bruschetta-- we rubbed a piece of garlic on the bread and then had spooned on tomato and arugula mix-- yum

A wonderful third generation business--- we had buffalo mozzarella  with some more of the tomato mixture

One of our favourite stops was a sandwich shop with local specialties.  Domenico explained that for years Romans just had sandwiches with a set number of ingredients- ie prosciutto or prosciutto and cheese.  The vendor at the sandwich shop originated a number of new variations a few years ago that proved very popular.  We had a slow-cooked beef and cooked chicory sandwich--- one of the highlights.

Moi and the sandwich

We had the "Allesso di Scottona"- the first item on the list.

The sandwich ingredients--- a few folks on the tour said they were definitely coming back for more.

We stopped briefly to look at a mountain of used olive oil terra cotta pots.  It is called Monte Testaccio and is about 1/2 mile around and 120 feet tall. Most of the terracotta came from large 70 gallon amphorae used to transport olive oil.  As the pots were not reusable, they were discarded after use.  They were then broken up and piled up.  Some of the shards date back to the first century BC.  

View of mountain of terra cotta pots

Our second last food stop was Flavio al Velavevodetto, a large beautiful family restaurant located on the slopes of Monte di Testaccio.  It opened in 2009. 

Outside of Flavio al Velaveodetto

We had platters of cacio e pepe, carbonara and a pasta with a tomato sauce.  The cacio e pepe was our favourite. 

 Cacio e pepe with carbonara in the background

We then passed a ruin from a warehouse, still standing.

Ruin from an old warehouse

We also stopped to look at the "stolpersteine" ("stumbling stones") in front of an apartment building commemorating the Jews who used to live there and who were deported to Auschwitz and murdered.  There are over 70,000 of these brass paving stones laid in more than 1200 cities across Europe and Russia.  Each commemorate a victim outside their last known residence.  The inscription on each stone begins "Here lived" followed by the victim's name, date of birth and fate: internment, suicide, exile or in the vast majority of cases, deportation and murder.

"Stumbling Stones" outside an apartment building in Testaccio

We then went to our last stop, a gelato store that dated back to 1914.  Homemade gelato is made in one room and served in another.  Each of us could choose two flavours and the gelato was served with homemade whipped cream (panna) made in a machine that dated back to 1936.  I was able to have two fruit flavours (no dairy), while Alonso had pistachio and coffee with the whipped cream.  We ate outside at tables.  A wonderful last stop to a fabulous food tour.

Applause for the gelato

Scooping the gelato-- shirts commemorated the 100th anniversary 1914-2014.  Whipping cream machine in the background.

Alonso outside with his gelato treat

We were then on our own.  The one thing missing from the tour was a coffee.  We had read about an interesting coffee shop called Tram Depot not far from our last stop. It is an out door kiosk which brews and sells a selection of specialty coffees.  We had a very good espresso, served with a small glass of sparkling water.

Alonso waiting for his coffee

Very pleasant place for a break

We then walked over to Mattatoio, an artistic and cultural research and productions complex being developed in the old slaughterhouse built between 1888 and 1891.  It is considered one of the most important examples of industrial archaeology in the city. 

Entrance

The exhibit featured the work of Dora Garcia (born Spain 1965, living in Oslo).  

A conceptual piece was located in one building and a film in another

Conceptual piece

 Great building

The film, called Secunda Vez (Second Life), interwove politics, psychoanalysis and performance.  It deals with Oscar Masotta an avant- garde psychoanalyst who lived in Buenos Aires and was prominent in the 1950s-70s.  The film interspersed photos dealing with the disappeared during the Argentinian dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s.

We then walked back to the apartment, had a nap and a late, very light dinner which Alonso put together.  A salad, some green beans, a piece of marinara pizza from the bakery which we bought on our way home, a glass of wine, and some cantucci for dessert.  Our host left us some olive oil from her family farm, which we used in the salad dressing-- excellent.  She also left us a bottle of white wine which we will try.

Opening the apartment

A light dinner after all the food on the tour

It was a wonderful day.  We loved exploring a new neighbourhood so close yet very different than Trastevere and other parts of Rome.  Our plan is to go to the market Saturday morning and purchase some fish and additional vegetables.