In the first and second century AD Rome's population had surpassed it's ability to sustain the people with food so it became importers of, in the case of Testaccio, olive oil everywhere from Spain to Tunisia to Palestine. Cargo from all these places arrived in the form of terra cotta amphorae with pointed bases. After the olive oil was sold and consumed the amphorae would be hurled onto a mound and shattered. ⁣

⁣

I first read about Monte Testaccio years ago in National Geographic magazine probably 20 years ago. I immediately put it on my bucket list. ⁣

⁣

Why weren't these amphorae repurposed you ask? Well, the porous nature of terra cotta absorbs oil and if you've ever smelled rancid olive oil it's an aroma you don't soon forget. There was no easy way of preventing this or cleaning the amphorae so they were cast as trash upon this "hill". I say "hill" because that is how I always imagined it, Rome is full of hills, but this area of Testaccio is flat all around except for this man-made hill that is about 100 feet high and 1,100 feet wide. ⁣

⁣

It the 1800's wine cellars were dug into the mountain, the airy nature of the broken amphorae created the perfect temperature for storing wine in this otherwise hot climate. There are several nightclubs and restaurants dug into Monte Testaccio, the most famous is Flavio al Velavevodetto where the entire dining room is cut into the hill. I sat there and had a wonderful caccio e pepe followed by a Tiramisu.