Trastevere, Campo dei Fiori and Testaccio. Districts buzzing with life from the early hours of the morning until long after midnight and ideally visited at least twice: once in the day and once at night, so as to best witness the transformation of streets and squares which, during the daylight hours, are home to a constant coming and going of city traffic and, as night falls, are invaded by fun-loving Romans, students, and tourists heading to the areas' numerous clubs, pubs and street cafés.
Campo dei Fiori is the piazza where the unfortunate Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake. The presence of the great Renaissance philosopher can still be felt in the square, in the form of Ettore Ferrari's impressive statue. During the day, the piazza is animated by Rome's oldest fruit and vegetable market. As the sun sets, the market stalls make way for the tables and chairs placed outside the pleasantly informal eateries overlooking the piazza.
Campo dei Fiori lies within easy walking distance of the river Tiber and the Garibaldi Bridge, from where to gain a bird's eye view of the Isola Tiberina, a small boat shaped river islet home to the Fatebenefratelli hospital. During the summer, the island and the nearby riverbanks are inundated by city workers escaping the stifling heat of the office, looking for refreshment at one of the makeshift kiosks selling Rome's famous grattachecca - a deliciously cooling concoction of crushed ice and fruit.
Trastevere is arguably the district of the Italian capital best identified with popular Rome, the Rome described by Trilussa, the city's most famous dialect poet. An entire room in the Roma in Trastevere Museum is dedicated to Carlo Alberto Salustri (the poet's real name) and in the nearby Piazza Trilussa a fabulous satirical statue of the artist can be seen. During the day, when Trastevere's fashionable nightspots are closed, there is no lack of family-run trattoria ready and waiting to serve those tourists arriving in the district so as to visit the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's oldest churches. It is believed that there has been a house of worship on the site since the distant 221 A.D, when the then Pope, San Callisto, commissioned the building of a church on the spot where a miraculous eruption of oil had occurred in 38 B.C., eruption interpreted as sign of the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Altered on numerous occasions over the years, between the 12th and 14th century the interiors and facade of the church were embellished with a series of magnificent golden mosaics.
A stroll around the Sunday morning market held in the area around Porta Portese is a long standing tradition in Rome, an occasion to rummage through hundreds of market stalls, piled high with mounds of both new and used items. The market is open from 6am until 2pm and you will need at least a couple of hours to do it justice.
Piazza dell'Emporio was once the site of Imperial Rome's river port. Today, the area is the entrance to the city's Testaccio district, another popular quarter of Rome famous for its vibrant nightlife. Testaccio is the perfect place where to enjoy a plate of traditional carbonara or amatriciana pasta, sat at one of the simply laid tables in any of the district's colorful trattorias. Visitors might like to attempt to walk off at least a forkful of dinner by making their way, on foot, to the Cestia Pyramid, Caio Cestio's funeral monument, especially impressive at night.
