Romeo Cheapo and Vino Sfuso

I'm cruising through the EuroCheapo website, looking for ways to save euros in Rome.  Since we don't want to be eating pizza al taglio for every meal (obviously not for collazione of course) I thought I'd check out some other options.  Of course there are also suppli and in EuroCheapo's "4 Kosher restaurants in Rome's Jewish Quarter" they mention Shilo with "good value set menus, which include a coke, slice of pizza and a suppli (deep-fried balls of rice) for €5".  Already I have indigestion.  More interesting is Chagat, "a casual kosher restaurant that boasts a happy hour buffet (and drink) from 5 p.m. for €7.50", Shabat "kits" on Friday - evidently take-out for the sabbath, and "falafel fatti in casa".

Then EuroCheapo has an article on "5 vegetarian restaurants for a great (meatless) meal".  Evidently their readers (or authors) are all on special diets -- don't they know that beggars can't be choosers?  But they do have two articles on affordable local trattorie that we can add to our map in case we are in the neighborhood.

EuroCheapo also recommends buying vino sfuso (loose wine) rather than a bottle of DOC or DOCG  So I had to go look that up and Girl in Florence has an article on "Why I love Vino Sfuso" explaining that

"Vino sfuso is traditionally known as wine that comes from inferior grapes not considered worthy of bottling and thus made to be consumed fresh and soon. It is most commonly sold as vino della casa or “house wine” at local trattoria’s...Expect the price to be around 1-3 euros a bottle."

I hope vino sfuso isn't mainly a Florence thing since Studentsville Florence also has "A 10-Point Introduction To Vino Sfuso: Your Solution to Good, Cheap Wine in Italy."  They say "It used to be that vino sfuso was made from the grapes that didn’t make the cut for higher priced wines, but these days, vineyards are dedicating themselves to its specific production."  So it can't be all that bad and you can ask for a taste before you buy it.

I know there is a vino sfuso place in the Mercato Trionfale by the Vatican and Just VASGO buys his at the Mercato Testaccio but I haven't been able to locate one near the apartment.  Just VASGO says that "Sfuso vendors typically are located at the major outdoor Italian Markets. I have occasionally found the set-up in random neighborhood supermarkets as well. You just have to look for them."  So I'll check the SMA supermarket down by Santa Maria Maggiore (which is open daily 8am to 9pm, btw) and the Nuovo Mercato Esquilino by Termini.  And we'll want to go exploring for vino sfuso as soon as we get there, not like in Paris, where we only managed to get to the Red Baron near the end of our stay.  There's something charming about getting your wine from a spigot.

And of course, there's the ecological side of it: reusing bottles, although I don't know how ecological (or safe) plastic bottles and jugs would be. And that 5-liter jug would weigh 10 pounds, right?  But less than glass...

 And then image searches on Google are even better at bringing up relevant postings about vini sfusi and it turns out that EATALY also dispenses it!!  Looks like I'm going to have to bring my big day-pack after all.  How else are we going to carry all that wine home from Testaccio??