In this square is one of the biggest and well supplied markets of Rome. It was created by the will of the people around 1900 to slow down the massive area urbanization. 

The Committee for the economic and moral improvement of Testaccio, established in 1905 to express the difficulties of the inhabitants of the district to the authorities, was allotted in the same year an unbuildable lot, still belonging to Marotti. 

In 1821 the Mattatoio (Slaughterhouse) was built, and it was considered a great example of functional architecture, thus starting the modern expansion of the area.