This is an artificial hill located in the area of the antique Roman port and near the granaries. Monte Testaccio is the direct result of their activities.
It is 54 m. high and its circumference is 1 km. The hill is made up of testae and crocks and a large number of fragments of amphora used for transporting goods, unloaded repeatedly and accumulated probably during the Augustinian period and the middle of the III Century a.d. according to the latest studies.
These studies also mention important information on the types and the unloading procedures. They were probably fragments of oil amphora from Betica (now known as Andalusia) and the Bizacena (Africa). Pieces of lime explain why crocks were used to eliminate problems caused by the decomposition of the oil. This was at the same time an excellent product for keeping the hill firmly together through the ages.
A hill of this size and height was possible because of the first ramp and the two lanes the wagons made loaded with crocks and fragments of amphora, many of which still keep the trade marks on their sides. Other bore marks impressed with a brush or ink by the exporter, containing details about contents, controls made during travels and the consular date.
The hill is therefore still today considered as a first hand historical-documentary source of the economic development of the Roman Empire, the commercial relationships between the Capital and the provinces as well as the eating habits of olden times.
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 | | | I Municipio
Rione XX - Testaccio
Regio XIII
Via Zabaglia, 24 |  |
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