Deep-dive

Housing in Garbatella

Istituto Case Popolari public housing (1920s and 1930s) in lots with shared courtyards, villini and low blocks in barocchetto style, the Alberghi Suburbani; intensive post-war buildings towards the Colombo. Many homes still public, very few on the market. No ZTL, Fascia Verde, paid parking around the metro.

Sections: Neighbourhoods · Rooms · Short & long rentals · Buying · Contracts · Deposits

Type of buildings

The historic core is 1920s and 1930s public housing: two- or three-storey houses with gardens in the first lots, four- or five-storey blocks in Roman barocchetto style around shared courtyards, and the large Alberghi Suburbani (the Albergo Rosso and the others) built for displaced families and later divided into flats. The homes are small or medium in size, with low ceilings, external stairs and few lifts; in return they have courtyards, gardens and an urban quality rare in Rome. Many are still owned by ATER or Roma Capitale, others have been bought by their tenants.

Towards via delle Sette Chiese, the Colombo and the Circonvallazione Ostiense there are 1950s and 1960s buildings with lifts and larger flats. Things to check: damp in ground-floor homes onto the courtyards, dated services, heritage protection on the historic buildings that limits renovation work.

The rental market

Private supply is scarce because most of the historic core is allocated public housing and never reaches the market; homes for sale or rent in the lots are few and much sought after, with prices that have risen sharply in recent years. There is more supply in the post-war buildings on the edges. Rooms for Roma Tre students exist but fewer than in Ostiense and San Paolo. Short lets are marginal.

Garbatella is not part of any Roma Mobilità car ZTL.
The whole district is inside the Fascia Verde ZTL (permanent limits on the most polluting vehicles, Monday–Saturday).
Parking is paid (blue lines) around Garbatella station and on the main streets, free in the inner streets of the lots where however space is scarce and the streets narrow and steep; few historic buildings have garages, many post-war blocks do.
Via Ostiense, the Circonvallazione Ostiense and the Colombo are busy at rush hour; inside the lots traffic is almost absent.

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