Garbatella

A 1920s garden-city of public housing, Garbatella is built around lotti, leafy courtyard blocks borrowed from the English garden-city movement, and it has kept a fiercely local, working-class soul. Casetta Rossa, the neighbourhood osterie and the wine of La Mescita give it a table that locals defend. It is the deep-cut authenticity play, the district a knowing visitor uses to prove they understand the real Rome beyond the postcards.