Katie Parla’s 5 Essential Places to Drink in Rome

With space for just 35 in its single, password-protected room on the ground floor of a 500-year old building in the historical center of Rome, The Jerry Thomas Project was the city’s first, serious craft cocktail bar. Over the past four years, the mustachioed staff has poured stellar pre-Prohibition-era classic cocktails, while simultaneously developing their own inspired drinks and style.

Birra Più’s staff is full of Anglo-American beer aficionados, so expect British and American brewers to be heavily represented in the fridges and on tap. There are also plenty of IPA and APA-inspired beers from Italian microbreweries like Lazio’s Ventoforte, and sour ales from Piedmont’s LoverBeer are a regular fixture on draught. Birra Più also has a constantly evolving list of whiskeys and bourbons.

Rome’s best-stocked bottle shop has long been a champion of natural wines. Tables throughout the wine shop provide a place to sample wines by the glass or bottle paired with a very limited menu of cheeses or cured meats. In addition to their ample stock of the country’s best traditional and natural producers, Bulzoni has a well-curated collection of French and Austrian wines. Though the markup tends to be a bit higher than at other venues in Rome, there are a few steals to be found—enough that it will make the trip to posh Parioli more than worth the effort.

Litro is basically a neighborhood café, which serves snacks and drinks all day long in the quiet residential district of Monteverde Vecchio. But what’s on the menu at Litro is far from basic. The wine list is composed of artisanal wines from small producers—exclusively from Italy and France—with spectacular, handcrafted cheeses and cured meats to match. In the evenings, barman Pino Mondello—a veteran of the city’s cocktail scene—mixes classic drinks, as well as mezcal-based cocktails.

Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà (Macchè for short), which opened in 2001, has become a beacon for the Italian craft beer movement. A diehard beer enthusiast—his catchphrase is quanno moro vojo esse fermentato (“when I die I want to be fermented”)—owner Manuele Colonna and his crew were among the first to reject European industrial brews, providing craft alternatives and cultivating a beer-drinking subculture. Macchè’s location in Trastevere, a center of Roman nightlife, has allowed them to bring their message to a wide audience.