Blackmarket Hall runs a multi-level Monti room dressed like the lobby of an early-1900s grand hotel, with bar manager Simone Scapigliati's signature cocktail programme paired with live jazz, soul and R&B nights spread across the week.
Tip: Vintage leather sofas, low lounge tables; the room fills by 22:00 on weekends so book ahead. Live sets typically run Thursday through Saturday.
Address: Via dei Ciancaleoni 31, 00184 Roma, Rome
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.
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.