Monte Testaccio - An Unusual 8th Hill in the Heart of Rome

The borough stretching from the the Pyramid site to the river, which is one of the most popular venues for nightlife and traditional Roman cuisine, has the odd sounding name of "Testaccio". The name comes from a very unique place in the oldest part of this borough: a huge stack of broken Roman jars, wihch, over the centuries, became a real hill, over 50 m tall. And these jars, which in Latin were called "Testae" gave the name to the unusual hill and to the whole borough. 


Such a place was nothing but a "specialized dump": at the nearby river harbor of the "Emporium," docked the "Naves Oleariae" (Oil carrying ships) carrying thousands of jars made of terra-cotta, mainly from the North African coast, off-loaded the jars. In the past it was believed that the broken jars forming the hill were just the one which accidentally broke during the off-loading process, but more recent discoveries showed that the harbor workers intentionally broke them, since oil jars, unlikely others, were not refillable for hygiene and convenience reasons, and stacked them tidily.



In more recent times this artificial hill has been used as venue for celebrations and for religious rites, in particular the Via Crucis taking place every Friday before Easter. The site now is surrounded by restaurants and clubs, some of which are directly under the hill itself. 


At present, the hill is normally closed to visitors because of some instability problems of the structure, but guided visits can be arranged.