The open-air market of San Cosimato: fresh, genuine food daily a few meters from Trastevere Bed and Breakfast

We think that an Italian holiday should be your occasion to reconnect with true flavours. So say goodbye to frozen foods and chemical stuff and step into a world where food is fresh, genuine and local like it used to be. Take a short walk from Trastevere Bed and Breakfast and you will end up right into the heart of Trastevere, Piazza San Cosimato. Here you will find one of the most beloved open-air markets of Rome. Monday to Saturday, both locals and visitors come here from the early morning to pick the best grocery, meat, fish and flowers. Fruits and vegetables are usually grown locally by the very people who will sell it to you. This means the taste is rich, the quality is great and unaltered. Plus, it has a low carbon footprint!

If you are a carnivore, go for some gorgeous cuts of tasty meat. If you prefer fish, you will find it a stall for it, too: fresh fish arrives here every day. So fresh that you will normally see one or two seagulls patiently waiting on a nearby wall to get their “share”. Never mind them: they have their own deal with the stall owner. The San Cosimato market is not huge, and it’s probably less frantic than the one in Campo dei Fiori. The square has been recently renovated, thus giving the market too a tidier look. Remember that the market closes after lunch, so you’d better set your alarm if you want to get the best stuff!

Good Morning, Trastevere! Living in a Bed & Breakfast in the ancient heart of Rome

Spending some time here in Trastevere – be it for holiday, study or work – is a good way to understand Rome.

Trastevere Bed and Breakfast offers its guests the chance to immerse themselves into the atmosphere of a forgotten Rome, few minutes from the tourist sights but in a whole different rhythm.

Trastevere used to be – until not long ago – a sort of a village with its own rituals, facing  Rome “of the Colusseum” on the other side of the Tiber (still today, Trastevere’s inhabitants call themselves “noantri”, “ourselves”).

Furthermore, Trastevere is a perfect neighbourhood to be experienced in a Bed & Breakfast, a kind of accomodation that allows you to know the city more as a local than as a tourist.

Those who know Rome for its imposing monuments and roman ruins always end up surprised when they see Trastevere’s medieval streets, its shops, often unchanged since the 60’s, the trattorie in small hidden squares.

From the early morning Trastevere shows its relaxed and pleasant nature. The bars – Trastevere is sure not lacking bars – are crowded with romans and Trastevere locals, who enjoy exchanging jokes with the barman as they wait for their caffè e cornetto (coffee and pastry). Some lone seagull diverts from the river to land among the fish stalls in Piazza San Cosimato’s market. Shops open with no rush, and you can see the first passers-by and cars. The smell of oven-warm bread spreads in the streets of the neighbourhood. It’s adviceable to live the morning with all the quietness that Trastevere allows: having breakfast outside, under a nice spring sun, away from the traffic of the big arteries.

The day in Trastevere is lively but not stressing. The whole neighbourhood is a big network of restaurants, trattorie, osterie, pizzerie, clubs, bars. You will have plenty of choice, both for lunch and dinner (we will explore the subject soon), and there’s always people sitting at the tables outside. From there, you can enjoy a perfect point of view on the flowing mankind of the neighbourhood.

Night in Trastevere is young. The small sleepy streets of the zone get crowded with youth coming from all of Rome to have fun in the bohémienne atmosphere of this “former village”. At dusk, Trastevere changes its face and many trendy clubs just appear, scattered among the old family-owned restaurants. They don’t come here for disco, but rather to have a drink with friends, chatter, stroll and enjoy some breeze from the river, maybe while having some prosecco from Freni & Frizioni, one of the most trendy aperitif bars.

At a certain time of the night, the people of the clubs withdraws, leaving the streets silent and sleepy. In the meanwhile, bakers start making bread for the next morning.