Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bysshe Shelley wrote: 'It might make one in love with death to think that one should be
buried in so sweet a place.' And so he was, along with fellow poet John Keats and a host
of luminaries, including Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist Party.
PIRAMIDE DI CAIO CESTIO
( Piramide)
Sticking out like, well, an Egyptian pyramid, this distinctive landmark stands
in the Aurelian Wall at the side of a massive traffic junction. A 36m-high marble-and-
brick tomb, it was built for Gaius Cestius, a 1st-century-BC magistrate, and some 200
years later was incorporated into the Aurelian fortification near Porta San Paolo. The sur-
rounding area is today known as Piramide.
LANDMARK
MONTE TESTACCIO
HISTORICAL SITE
( 06 06 08; Via Nicola Zabaglia 24, cnr Via Galvani; adult/reduced €4/3 plus cost of tour; group visits by
guided tour only; Via Marmorata)
Right in the heart of the Testaccio neighbourhood, Monte
Testaccio, aka Monte dei Cocci, is an artificial grass-covered hill made almost entirely of
smashed amphorae.
Between the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century AD, Testaccio was Rome's river port.
Supplies of wine, oil and grain were transported here in huge terracotta amphorae, which,
once emptied, were dumped in the river. But when the Tiber became almost unnavigable
as a consequence, the pots were smashed and the pieces stacked methodically in a pile,
which over time grew into a large hill - Monte Testaccio.
MACRO TESTACCIO
GALLERY
( 06 06 08;
www.macro.roma.museum
; Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4; adult/reduced €6/4; 4pm-10pm Tue-Sun;
Via Marmorata)
Housed in Rome's ex-slaughterhouse, MACRO Testaccio (the second of
MACRO's two exhibition spaces) serves up contemporary art in two cavernous industrial
halls. Note that the gallery opens only when there is an exhibition on - check the website
for details.
