Mercato di Testaccio
Mordi e Vai, Casa Manco and the Mastroianni fish counter trade under one roof on via Beniamino Franklin.
Why go
Gambero Rosso calls this one of the most successful of Rome's food markets, a hall where selling stalls, services and eating counters sit together without crowding each other out (Gambero Rosso). The names it says not to miss are Casa Manco for a richly dressed slice, and Mordi e Vai, where the Esposito family fill rolls with picchiapò, boiled-beef meatballs and tongue. They were butchers first, which is why the cuts are the ones a sandwich counter usually will not touch.
Katie Parla makes the practical case on Eater: this is the best place in central Rome to shop for seasonal produce, meat, fish, and baked goods all in one place
(Eater). She sells paid walking tours in Rome and runs them here. Time Out picks the same pizza counter Gambero Rosso does and gives it a mechanism: Casa Manco leavens organic flour for a hundred hours (Time Out).
Order this / avoid
- Order: a roll at box 15, then a slice at Casa Manco. Parla's order at the box is the brisket and chicory.2
- Avoid: the afternoon. The stalls trade in the morning and shut after lunch, and the queue at the sandwich box builds before they do.
What locals & experts say
- Katie Parla, on Eater:
The Testaccio neighborhood market is the best place in central Rome to shop for seasonal produce, meat, fish, and baked goods all in one place.
She sells paid walking tours in Rome.2 - Time Out Rome (Livia Hengel, 2025):
CasaManco bakes Rome's best pizza al taglio in Testaccio Market, with organic flour leavened for 100 hours and fresh, seasonal ingredients.
3 - Gambero Rosso (2025), on the Esposito family:
Ex-butchers, today dispensers of rustic good things inside ciabatta rolls.
1 - Scatti di Gusto (2016):
The art of the sandwich at a good market price you will find at the Testaccio market, thanks to Sergio Esposito.
4
Good to know
- Timing: the stalls trade in the morning and shut after lunch, and the market is closed on Sunday.
- Booking: none. You queue at whichever counter you want.
- Where: the via Beniamino Franklin entrance, in Testaccio, a short walk from Piatto Romano and the trattorias on the square.
- The fish: the Mastroianni family works box 94, which Gambero Rosso calls one of the market's longest-standing stalls, and cooks the same catch at the Mastro Popone bistrot beside it.
Verdict
must-visit — One roof holds the sandwich counter the quarter is known for, a pizza al taglio Time Out rates first in the city and a fish family at box 94, and Gambero Rosso writes that the selling stalls and the eating counters work together rather than crowding each other out. It is the cheapest good morning in Rome and the timing is the whole trick: the stalls shut after lunch.