Non-Touristy area in Rome?

We plan to stay in Testaccio this fall. You can walk to many of the main sites from there. But there is also excellent public transportation. It is known as having many traditional restaurants and a good food market.

On our 2012 trip, we rented an apartment in the Trastevere neighborhood, on the west side of the Tiber river. There’s a neat outdoor market there, plus a lively locals’ square and a church, it’s just south of the Vatican City, and major sights in downtown Rome are a quick, cheap, short bus ride away. Actually getting to the Pantheon was walkable, but took several more minutes to reach.

So it’s authentic, much less touristy than some places, and yet still convenient to reach other places during your stay. The locals don’t necessarily clean up after their dogs, so some of the sidewalks had an occasional spot of dog dropping - watch your step, but the whole Trastevere location is where we’d locate our lodging again.

I would stay in Prati, north of the Vatican but not in Trastevere which is full of tourists, many of them college age looking for a place to eat and drink cheaply. Prati is residential, somewhat elegant, but well-connecte diva tram, bus and metro to the rest of Rome.

We lived in Parioli, the other side of town, which is very non-touristy but not well-connected either. Could be a good local experience but at the cost of taking a long time to get anywhere.

Another vote for Prati. It felt more residential than some other areas of Rome but not so far removed as to make accessing the attractions difficult or overly time-consuming. We walked all over Rome from there (by choice; we're big walkers) but could have used public transit if we'd wanted to.

We now always stay in Testaccio a little northwest of the metro and train station. Near Volpetti's. So many great places to eat. I guess it's less cute and medieval than Trastevere, but also less touristed and with better public transportation. The train goes to Ostia Antica and also to the airport so you can avoid Termini (although the new food court in Termini is fun!)

Thank you all for the wonderful replies. Then that is where we will focus our attention.

We’re assuming apartment rental is best in these neighborhoods. Had a great experience with Airbnb in Paris’ 6th.

Back in 2010 we stayed at Hotel Aventino. It was in a most residential neighborhood but walkable to the main sights.

We got a HomeAway apartment for our Trastevere stay. It allowed easy coffee, hot chocolate, and breakfast before heading out, and easy pasta dinners (get fresh pasta from one of several shops down the street) many nights. We ate lunch in restaurants or cafes dome days, and took sandwiches with great salami and other meats some days. Dinner out a couple evenings, but having dinner at hone saved us a few euros overall. It was just around the corner from a police station, so felt very secure, in addition to its proximity to public transportation and fabulous eating sources.

You’re all wonderful. Thank you

I didn’t know that Laurel was a “Pariolina”.

PARIOLINO/A= Inhabitant of Parioli district. Also used as adjective to mean upper class, wealthy, and politically very right wing/conservative. (Basically same as those in Orange County, Calif.)

hey hey
@roberto lol i looked at the urbandictionary.com meaning. you were kind in your explanation
aloha

Roberto, a Pariolina in geography only, and only for 5 years. Now a left-coaster once again, without the wealth or conservatism. .

Okay, I'm going to divulge my closest kept secret about where to stay in Rome.

I found this recommendation in RS' 2000 Italy guide. Don't even know if it's still available, but if it is, it's heaven: Casa di Santa Brigida, on the Piazza Farnese, is lovely, but they also have a sister house further out, the Suore di S. Brigida on Via delle Isole #34. Small spare rooms with comfy beds, tall windows with billowing white curtains, very tiny nuns from India singing mass, a lovely garden with a big friendly dog. You would not know you were in Rome. Each morning we walked down the street to a cafe and ate fresh strawberries and warm bread. Nobody had email in those days, but the phone number was 8414393.

Please don't tell anyone else about it! I don't want it to get "popular."

Monty, that would be too far from center for me personally but they have a website in case you ever want to contact them again. :O)

https://www.viadelleisole.org

Monty, I'm afraid the "secret" of Casa di Santa Brigida is out - and has been for years. As you say, it was in Rick's book in 2000, and I learned about it in the mid-1990's. While one can certainly try to get a room there, don't get your hopes up.

Last time in Rome we stayed in a walk-up apartment facing Campo de' Fiori--a decidedly tourist area--but we frequently visited friends we had met on a previous trip at their apartment on via Nomentana, in north Rome once you pass Porta Pia. It's on one of the bus lines that emanates from Termini.

It is anything but tourist--local shops, caffe bars and restaurants--but our friends knew about neat attractions like mosaic at St. Agnese & St. Constantia, then Villa Torlonia, which was the wartime home of Mussolini. Very cool because it looks exactly like it should--the somewhat unkempt and disheveled former abode of a deposed leader.

And we savored doing the 'routine' with our friends--shopping, laundry, then making the rounds: stopping one place for an aperitif, dinner at a locals' joint, then another little place for dessert and coffee--and they were welcomed like family at each place. So we were as well. And then late, we'd take the bus 'home' to Campo.

It was a grand way to 'do as the Romans do'! And it's why I love Rome.