Carbonara, cacio e pepe and the fifth quarter in the old slaughterhouse district
Testaccio, a working-class quarter beside the Tiber, was built around the old slaughterhouse of Rome, the Mattatoio, active until 1975. The workers were partly paid with the quinto quarto, the "fifth quarter", the offal and cheap cuts that the rich did not want, and from these were born some of the great dishes of Roman cooking: coda alla vaccinara, oxtail stewed with celery, rigatoni con la pajata, trippa alla romana.
The quarter is also the best place to taste the four great Roman pasta dishes: carbonara, with egg, guanciale and pecorino, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia. The Mercato di Testaccio, a modern covered market, has stalls of street food, such as the trapizzino, a triangle of pizza bread stuffed with Roman stews. The quarter rises around Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill made of millions of broken Roman amphorae.
Tip: many historic trattorias are closed on Sundays or Mondays; the old Mattatoio now hosts a contemporary art space.
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