Over the Bridge to Trastevere, Rome

There’s something very captivating about Trastevere, despite the busy night time crowds and touristy restaurants. It’s just a hop over a bridge to Centro Storico, Rome’s ancient centre, and depending on which bridge you take, you’ll land in a different precinct. Getting lost is part of a good day in Rome as you find new streets and more colours until once again, a familiar piazza or ancient Roman building pops up before your very eyes and you know where you are. Rome is always surprising.

One bridge takes you to the Jewish quarter, a great place to wander about on a weekday morning but avoid the weekends when this district is swamped with lunchtime crowds and restaurant spruikers.

Around the Jewish quarter, Rome

Another bridge takes you to the working class, gritty suburb of Testaccio, with its central food market and authentic Roman trattorie. You’ll pass yet more ancient Roman treasures along the way, some just lying about, and wonder why you hadn’t seen them before. There’s a certain insouciance in Rome when it comes to antiquity and this is part of the charm.

Testaccio, Roma,

Other bridges lead you through some official districts until you wander past Palazzo Farnese and find yourself in Campo Dei Fiori and nearby Piazza del Biscione, with its old style restaurants, another market and a superb fornaio ( bakery) on the corner.

The walls seem to glow in Rome’s cold late Autumn light, an attraction in themselves. Layers of ochre, pinks and reds, some colours when weathered, have no name at all. They are the colours washed by time, the colours that make you keep wandering and wondering, the colours of Rome.

 

34 thoughts on “Over the Bridge to Trastevere, Rome”

  3. ” …cold late autumn light” sent me back over the photos again and this time not just breathing in the weathered colours and buildings but the crisp, cold air too, lovely.

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    2. Dear Jan, I was about to respond to your comment regarding my post on Cacio e Pepe and then it suddenly disappeared. WordPress does this sometimes when clumsy fingers hit the wrong buttons. But I remember what you said and so whack the Italian music on, get the wine out, buy a good hard wedge of Pecorino Romano, and make that dish… it really is easy, once you have the method in your head. Oh and report back, on dish and chosen tune.

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    1. It’s Forno Campo de’Fiori, on the end of the piazza and on a corner near a lane. If you are staying in that area, there are different things that come out at different times- nice salty foccaccie etc. There’s a nice old fashioned family style restauran nearby too, well patronised by locals in via del biscione called Grotte del Teatro di Pompeo. Always the same, simple Roman food.

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  15. A very special place. I was intrigued by your term “spruikers”. I had never heard this before, but after looking it up, I realised I have seen the phenomenon time after time here in Greece. There are parts of Athens we sprint through just to avoid them. Good to have a word for them, other than the profanities we usually use!

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    1. There are certain streets throughout the world with nasty and aggressive spruikers and I was so surprised to find them in abundance in the Jewish quarter in Rome. It spoiled that area for me as I always remember it as a quiet and refined place, with old fashioned and timeless restaurants. Perhaps that district has had too much press lately and is no longer the same.
      I am sure they are in certain streets in Athens. We have them here in Melbourne too , mostly in Lygon Street, once our little Italy, now sadly a tourist district. Profanities are nice to describe them too.

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  18. Pingback: The Jewish Quarter, Rome – ALMOST ITALIAN

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