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Rome's left bank

Rome's popular Trastevere district is a postcard neighborhood of narrow, cobblestone streets, fantastic restaurants, and overflowing bars and clubs

Trastevere, which means "Across the Tiber," was one of Rome's great medieval working-class neighborhoods, one that spoke its own distinct dialect and had a tradition of street fairs and poetry—still echoed in the July Festa de' Noiantri, or "Feast of We Others."

But after Trastevere became trendy in the 1970 and 80s—popular both with the Roman upper middle class and lots of ex-pat Americans—it became touristy in the 1990s. It always had lots of restaurants and excellent tiny trattorie, but this boom in popularity has filled it beyond bursting with eateries, pubs, dance halls, funky boutiques, sidewalk vendors and fortune tellers, and a constant, stifling crush of trendoids and tourists.

Top Trastevere Sights
Santa Maria in Trastevere
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
San Francesco a Ripa
Villa Fanesina
Palazzo Corsini (painting gallery)
Orto Botanico (botanical gardens)
Climbing Gianicolo Hill

It''s still as picturesque as any corner of Rome comes: a warren of narrow, cobblestone-paved streets and alleys that twist and turn and suddenly spill into pocket-sized piazze filled with market stalls or anchored by a medeival church, laundry hanging from marble windowsills set in ochre or gold or pale rose plastered walls, and tiny shops, boutiques, and tratories pigeonholed into the ground floors of every building.

However, you should know that Trastevere has also become a requisite stop for coach tours and a guided walk in travel books. It's still one of Rome's most colorful quarters, and the best place to come if you just want to wander into a good restaurant at random, but, like the Latin Quarter in Paris or SoHo in New York, it has degraded a bit into a parody of itself.

Doesn't mean I don't come here for dinner one night in three whenever I'm in Rome!


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This material was last updated January 2007. All information was accurate at the time.

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