Conte Staccio (in the Testaccio quarter of Rome, the enoteca and wine bar whose name references the specific Testaccio identity: "staccio" is the Roman dialect term for the sieve used in the old slaughterhouse operations, the tool that separated the usable from the discarded in the quinto quarto processing tradition that made Testaccio the culinary heart of working-class Rome) is the wine bar that the Testaccio neighborhood's transformation from industrial slaughterhouse district to creative and gastronomic quarter has produced at its most coherent: the Conte Staccio wine selection (natural, organic, and biodynamic Italian producers with a consistent preference for the Lazio, Campania, Sicilian, and Friulian producers whose wines the Rome natural wine community has championed since the early 2010s) and the food menu (the Testaccio tradition of quinto quarto and offal-based preparations reinterpreted with the lighter touch of contemporary Roman cuisine, the coda alla vaccinara terrine rather than the traditional stewed oxtail, the pajata croquette rather than the full pasta e pajata) reflect the specific Testaccio negotiation between heritage and innovation.
The Testaccio neighborhood (the quarter built in the 1880s-1890s as worker housing for the slaughterhouse employees, the specific planned working-class neighborhood whose grid of streets, the central market, the proximity to the Tiber docks, and the Pyramid of Cestius on its southern edge constitute one of the most specifically Roman of Rome's residential quarters) has evolved since the 1975 slaughterhouse closure from an exclusively working-class residential zone to the most gastronomically interesting of the inner Rome quarters: the market (now relocated to the Ex Mattatoio), the trattorie serving the traditional quinto quarto repertoire, and the wine bars like Conte Staccio that have brought the contemporary natural wine movement into conversation with the oldest Roman cooking tradition.
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Conte Staccio: Wine, Food, and Testaccio
The Wine Selection
The Conte Staccio wine list (approximately 200 labels, organized by region, with the specific emphasis on the central and southern Italian natural wine producers who the Testaccio wine community follows most closely): the Lazio section (the Cos, the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto, the Cantine Recchia, the natural Lazio producers working with the Cesanese, Bellone, and Greco Bianco varieties that the conventional Lazio wine industry has marginalized in favor of the international varieties) is the most specifically Roman wine selection. The Campania section (the Cantina Giardino, the Casa Setaro, the Eduardo Torres Acosta estate, the volcanic-soil producers of Campania whose wines have the specific mineral intensity of the Vesuvius and Sannio geological zones) is the most varied. The house pour by the glass changes weekly with the specific producers visiting Rome and presenting their new releases, the most direct contact with the Italian natural wine calendar available in the Testaccio wine bar circuit.
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The Conte Staccio food menu (the selection of salumi, cheeses, and small prepared plates that the bar offers alongside the wine) is organized around the specific Testaccio-Roman food identity: the guanciale (the cured pork cheek that is the key ingredient of carbonara and amatriciana, the Conte Staccio guanciale from the specific producer in the Amatrice zone whose product the kitchen uses for the charcuterie board and the warm preparations), the pecorino romano DOP (the hard sheep's cheese that is the other pillar of the Roman pasta tradition), and the seasonal prepared plates that reference the quinto quarto tradition without reproducing it literally.
Q&A: Conte Staccio
What time does Conte Staccio open and what is the best time to go?
Conte Staccio opens for the aperitivo (pre-dinner drink with snacks) hour (approximately 17:30-18:00) and stays open through the evening. The best Conte Staccio timing: 18:30-19:30 for the early aperitivo (the first glass, the charcuterie board, the most attentive service before the full evening crowd arrives), or 21:00+ for the later natural wine exploration when the specific producer bottles from the cellar become the focus of the evening rather than the aperitivo drinks. The Testaccio combination: the Conte Staccio aperitivo → dinner at one of the traditional Testaccio trattorie (Flavio al Velavevodetto on Via di Monte Testaccio, or the Osteria dell'Angelo on Via Baldo degli Ubaldi) → return to Conte Staccio for the digestivo (after-dinner liqueur) is the most complete Testaccio evening available.
