Bar San Calisto has run on a Trastevere square a corner from Piazza Santa Maria since 1969, with prices stuck in another decade, scuffed tables spilling into the piazza and a regular crowd of locals, students and old-timers that holds the room past midnight.
Tip: Pay at the cash register first then redeem the receipt at the bar. The piazza tables are the seats to get; arrive before 22:00 on weekends.
Address: Piazza di San Calisto 3, 00153 Roma, Rome
Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa runs a tiny standing room on Via Benedetta near the Tiber, with a rotating draft list that swings between Italian craft microbreweries and a small Loverbeer-heavy bottle fridge, and a crowd that spills onto the street most nights.
Tip: The room holds maybe fifteen people; the line outside is the room. Ask the bartender what's new on tap, the list changes weekly.
Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fa runs a tiny standing room on Via Benedetta near the Tiber, with a rotating draft list that swings between Italian craft microbreweries and a small Loverbeer-heavy bottle fridge, and a crowd that spills onto the street most nights.
Tip: The room holds maybe fifteen people; the line outside is the room. Ask the bartender what's new on tap, the list changes weekly.
Open Baladin opened on Via degli Specchi in the Regola district in 2009 as the flagship of the Baladin brewery's Roman push, with around 40 taps, more than 100 Italian craft labels in bottle and a kitchen that runs gourmet burgers and beer-braised plates.
Tip: The bar runs continuously through service so you can drop in for a beer at 18:00 or eat dinner at 22:00. The fatate fries with homemade ketchup are a regular order.
La Vineria, the Reggio family's century-old enoteca, sits in the middle of Campo de' Fiori with cheap glasses at the inside counter, a wider outside markup and a piazza-side crowd that locks down the square through the late hours.
Tip: A glass at the inside bar is the deal; tables on the piazza carry a markup for the view. The kitchen is short, eat first elsewhere.
Bar dei Brutti has been a San Lorenzo dive anchor since 2011, with two scruffy inside rooms, outdoor tables on Via dei Volsci and an under-five-euro cocktail list that draws students and locals through the late hours of the university quarter.
Tip: Cash works best; the cocktails are cheap and strong. The piazza around the corner is the late-night spillover when the bar fills.
Il Vinaietto has been a counter-only wine bar near Largo Argentina since the 1960s, run by Marco Maccione and Giancarlo Ministeri with a long list of Italian regional wines including organic and natural pours and a street-side crowd that spills onto Via del Monte della Farina.
Tip: Drink standing; there are no real tables. Bring euro coins for cheap glasses and ask the owners for a regional pick.
Lanificio 159 occupies a 3,500 square metre former wool factory on the Aniene river in Pietralata and runs house, techno and disco nights on Fridays and Saturdays from September through May, with occasional Thursday live shows.
Tip: The club sits north of the centre near the Aniene; budget for a taxi back since transit ends well before the floor does. The complex also houses a restaurant if you want to eat before the doors open.