Piazza Testaccio in Romes quarter of the same name is to undergo a major facelift. Home to an open-air market for years, the square is to be freed from the stalls and the squalor of market day and made into an open recreation space. The market will move into a complex about to be built on land recently cleared of ageing and rundown blocks of flats. This urban development project will see the construction of a two-tier market hall hosting 114 stalls and an adjacent office block, as well as provide 5,000 sq m of additional parking space. Under a new type of private financing scheme, the cost of clearing and sprucing up the main square will be met by the developers of the market-office complex.