Tourist Info > Area Description

Area Description

- Termini : As most of the budget hotels are located in this area, there are plenty inexpensive restaurants to choose from, but don’t go out  of your way to dine here. The triangular area southeast of the church of  Santa Maria Maggiore is good for pub crawling.

- Esquilino : One of the original seven hills of Rome, this area south of Termini Station is where the city’s numerous immigrant communities have estabilished their business. Here you will find a large concetration of ethnic restaurants, grocery stores, and take-away places, as well as shops carrying items from many different cultures, particularly Asian, African and Indian.

- Campo de’ Fiori : This characteristic piazza and its side streets are a very popular hang out for young people. The dense concentration of pubs and wine bars makes it an ideal place to meet people. On summer nights the piazza is filled with people standing around, simply enjoying the lively atmosphere.

- Piazza Navona : The most famous and theatrical of Rome’s piazzas, this is a great place to watch street performers, sample the famous “tartufo” gelato, or relax by the Baroque fountains before moving on to see and be seen, if you’re hip enough, at the cool bars in this area west of the piazza. A short walk to the east of Piazza Navona is the Pantheon, home to some of Rome’s best gelaterias. Dining outside on either of these piazzas you can “taste” a very amazing atmosphere… and  very good food!

- Trastevere : Separated from central Rome by the Tiber river, Trastevere is by far the most characteristic part of the town. Simply wander through the maze-like streets  and you’ll have no trouble finding small, family-run restaurants in which to sample traditional Roman dishes. Trastevere also offers a number of live-music clubs and smaller, more relaxed pubs tucked away in back alleys.

- Ghetto : Stretching from Largo Argentina to the Theater of Marcellus along the Tiber banks is the area of the old Jewish Ghetto. Nowdays it’s a charming area with delicious bakeries and the only kosher pizzeria in Rome. It’s full of restaurants where you can enjoy home-style Roman cooking  in an informal setting, and at other places, ranging in price from reasonable to very expensive, you can sample Roman Jewish cuisine with its specialities like “carciofi alla giudia”.

- Testaccio : Just south of Aventine hill, the district of Testaccio is arguably the best place for truly authentic Roman cuisine as very few tourists make it down here. Late at night this part of town really comes alive for movers and shakers as most of Rome’s dance clubs are concentrated here.

- San Lorenzo : Located just east of the Termini area, this is the university district of Rome, and virtually unpenetrated by tourists. Here you’ll find plenty of restaurants, pubs and music clubs frequented by the local students and faculty.

- Spanish Steps : This monument needs no introduction as it enjoys a great word of mouth as the place to go in Rome to meet those handsome young Italian men, be offered a rose, or in some cases, a marriage proposal at the end of the night!