Rome - Monte Testaccio

Between the Tiber and Porta San Paolo is a small hill, 35m/115ft high and 850m/930yd in circumference, which was formed during the republican period by the deposit of rubbish, mainly broken pottery from the nearby warehouses, on the banks of the Tiber where the merchant vessels discharged their cargoes. The site was occupied in ancient times by large trading establishments and the Portus Aemilius (second century B.C.), a street of shops 487m/530yd long.