In a nutshell
- For street art fans and night owls: the cool student neighborhood San Lorenzo with loads of affordable bars and restaurants well away from the tourist crowds.
- For bargain hunters: Rome’s largest flea market, Mercato di Porta Portese — every Sunday, rain or shine.
- For foodies hunting the city’s best gelato: Gelateria Fassi, a Roman institution since 1880 — three scoops for just 3 euros.
Lies auch:
San Lorenzo: Street Art & Alternative Nightlife
Just a few minutes’ walk from the main Termini train station lies the student neighborhood of San Lorenzo. This is where the University of Rome is located, and especially in the evenings and at night, there’s always something going on.
Along the streets of San Lorenzo, you’ll find huge building walls covered in street art, and around the Piazza dell’Immacolata there are countless bars and restaurants with prices far lower than in the nearby historic center.
Every evening, some kind of event takes place on one of San Lorenzo’s piazzas — parties, or the opening of a new art gallery.
San Lorenzo is seriously worth a visit for an evening out: or go ahead and book your hotel right here in the neighborhood!
Porta Portese Flea Market
Every Sunday between 9 AM and 2 PM, the Mercato di Porta Portese flea market takes place in the Monteverde neighborhood.
You can truly find everything here: secondhand furniture, clothes, jewelry, toys, artwork, books, and new products too.
The market stretches across several streets: on Via Portuense you’ll mainly find fashion and accessories, while Via Ippolito Nievo is predominantly home to antique furniture. On Via Clivio Portuense, you can shop for bicycles and accessories for cars and motorcycles.
It’s absolutely worth a stroll, because the selection is huge!
As with any flea market, there are two magic windows for the best deals: early in the morning when it opens, because that’s when you have the widest selection — and just before closing, because that’s when you can negotiate prices more easily.
Buco della Serratura: The Keyhole
In a quiet part of Rome, not far from the center on the Aventine Hill, there’s a large iron gate belonging to the Villa of the Order of Malta.
What makes this gate so special is its keyhole: when you peek through it, you get a perfect, framed view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, perfectly framed by the hedges of the garden on the other side.
It’s no longer a true secret — you’ll almost always find a line of people waiting to peek through — but it’s totally worth it!
Our tip: The view is most beautiful at sunset or sunrise. Go at sunrise and you might even luck out with no line at all.
Passeggiata del Gelsomino: The Jasmine Promenade
Where railway tracks once ran between Vatican City and the Kingdom of Italy, you’ll now find one of Rome’s least-known walking paths.
The Passeggiata del Gelsomino — translated as Jasmine Promenade — is an elevated pedestrian path about one kilometer long running between the Vatican’s train station and the San Pietro train station.
The name comes from the countless jasmine blossoms that bloom here in spring and fill the air with their fragrance.
From the promenade, you get a really different perspective on St. Peter’s Basilica. It rarely gets crowded up here, because this little path is still one of Rome’s genuine off-the-beaten-path finds.
You can find the entrance at San Pietro station on platform 1 — it’s signposted.
Our tip: If you’re traveling in Rome with kids, you’ll find the charming little gem Fattorietta along the Passeggiata — a children’s farm right in the middle of the city.
Pigneto: Multicultural & Independent
The Pigneto neighborhood was once considered run-down, but in recent years gentrification has made its way here too.
Like San Lorenzo, this district is located near the university and is multicultural, alternative, and full of independent bookstores, cultural centers, street art, LGBTQ bars, and vintage shops.
Definitely not to be missed is the former industrial complex Ex Snia. The site has been occupied for years by a left-wing movement, and all kinds of events and activities take place there. If you’re a street art fan in particular, you should absolutely stop by Ex Snia!
Gazometro: Industrial Archaeology
Much like Berlin, Rome has a surprisingly large number of abandoned places. The most striking is the Gazometro, Rome’s former gasometer — when it was still in operation, it was the largest gasometer in Europe.
Today it stands as a massive, abandoned skeleton on the banks of the Tiber, surrounded by colorful street art. You can’t enter the grounds, but the sight of the roughly 90-meter-tall and 60-meter-wide structure from below is genuinely impressive.
Centrale Montemartini: Between Turbines and Marble Busts
To keep the former power plant Montemartini from becoming yet another industrial ruin, the city came up with something brilliant: an exhibition of statues and busts from ancient Rome in the machine hall of the power plant.
The white marble artworks — which would otherwise be gathering dust in the Capitoline Museums’ storage rooms — stand here among diesel engines, gauges, and turbines.
And even though the old machines and white sculptures come from completely different eras and have virtually nothing in common, everything in the hall comes together in a fascinating harmony. It’s one of those Rome hidden gems that genuinely surprises you.
We’ve also put together a detailed guide with even more tips on the best museums in Rome:
The 11 Most Beautiful Museums in Rome
Lanificio: Wool Mill with Rooftop Bar
The Lanificio — which translates to wool mill — is another former factory that’s been transformed into a super cool cultural center.
Across roughly 3,500 square meters, you’ll find a stylish restaurant and bar with a rooftop terrace, lounge chairs, and live music. There’s also a concert hall for the winter months and a showroom for local craftsmanship where workshops are regularly held.
The building looks pretty unassuming and somewhat run-down from the outside — which makes the surprise when you step inside all the greater.
The rooftop bar is open from May to September daily from 6 PM to 2 AM; in winter, the bar moves indoors.
The Lanificio is located a bit outside the city center and is best reached by bus or car.
Gelateria Fassi
Rome has countless gelato shops, and many of them are genuinely excellent. But the one widely considered the best in the city is Gelateria Fassi.
And the gelato really is incredibly good. The Fassi family has been making their famous ice cream here since 1880, making this one of the oldest gelato shops in Italy.
Compared to the tourist-trap gelato spots near the main sights, the value here is also spot on: a large cone with three scoops costs just 3 euros.
Grattachecca
The classic Roman way to cool down on hot summer days is called Grattachecca. It’s shaved ice scraped from a block and drizzled with a syrup of your choice — the selection is always extensive, from mint to lemon, melon, or almond milk.
On top, there’s usually fruit pieces, shredded coconut, or raspberries.
In summer, it’s simply the perfect alternative to a gelato cone — and about as quintessentially Roman as it gets!
You can find Grattachecca at special kiosks all over the city. The most famous and oldest is La Fonte d’Oro in Rome’s most beautiful neighborhood, Trastevere, which has been around since 1913.
Also very well known is the Grattachecca from Sora Mirella, also in Trastevere.
La Parolaccia: Spaghetti with Insults
A true Roman institution known well beyond the city is the restaurant La Parolaccia — which translates to The Swear Word.
If you dine here and speak a little Italian, you’ll need thick skin, because the service comes with personal insults and colorful expressions in the Roman dialect.
While your pasta is being served, you might get an offhand remark about your appearance, or the waiter might loudly make fun of you in some other way. It’s all part of the concept.
In between, there’s singing, joke-cracking, and dancing.
Honestly, even if you don’t speak a word of Italian, it’s still quite an experience — without any Italian, you’re effectively immune to the waiters’ colorful language anyway, which makes the whole thing feel more like dinner theater.
