Terrazza Mirador opens for the warm months on the grounds of Villa Agrippina at the foot of the Gianicolo, with palm-shaded loungers, a Balearic-inflected cocktail list and a Japanese-leaning fusion menu run by Kobe-trained chef Koji Nakai.
Tip: Open from May through September only; reservations after 19:00 are essential on weekends. The view picks up Castel Sant'Angelo and the Vatican walls from the upper terrace.
Address: Via del Gianicolo 3, 00165 Roma, Rome
La Terrazza crowns the Dorchester Collection's Hotel Eden with a Michelin-starred dining room and a wraparound bar terrace pointed across Villa Medici, the Spanish Steps and St Peter's, with a cocktail programme that runs alongside chef Salvatore Bianco's Mediterranean kitchen.
Tip: Drinks at the bar terrace are sometimes available without a dining reservation if you arrive at 18:00, but the dinner crowd takes over after 19:30. Cocktails sit around 23 euros.
The Court sits on the ground-level terrace of Palazzo Manfredi directly above the Ludus Magnus excavations, where bar manager Matteo Zed runs a cocktail programme inspired by Rome's fountains with the Colosseum filling the sightline beyond the rail.
Tip: Cocktails here are 27 euros but include a Prosecco welcome and a long passed-bite list, so it works as a one-drink Colosseum sit. Book a terrace seat well ahead.
The Jerry Thomas Project hides behind an unmarked door on Vicolo Cellini and has been Rome's canonical speakeasy since 2010, with bartender Antonio Parlapiano's classic cocktail programme placing the room on the World's 50 Best Bars list six times.
Tip: Reservation is required and the day's password comes with it, plus a five euro membership at the door. Tuesday to Saturday only, room holds maybe 30.
Drink Kong runs across 300 square metres of Monti split into a bar room, a softly lit lounge, a Jungle Room that hosts live rock and jazz and an Omakase room panelled in Japanese cherry wood, with Patrick Pistolesi's instinct-based cocktail programme as the through-line.
Tip: Tell the bartender bitter, dry or sweet and let them choose; the menu is a starting point, not a script. The Jungle Room runs live music most weekends.
The Race Club hides a 1930s-styled basement under a Via Labicana shopfront dressed as a mechanic's workshop, with brick vaults, armchairs and a list of ten signatures alongside the classics, including a charity drink series that funds chosen causes.
Tip: Five euro membership at the door; the basement room is small so book a banquette on weekends. The upstairs garage is the cover, the cocktails are downstairs.
Argot tucks a cavernous downstairs room into the back streets behind Campo de' Fiori, run by three Roman owners as a salotto di casa with dim lighting, kitsch furniture and a weekend live music slot alongside the cocktail programme.
Tip: Annual membership card required at the door; the live music runs weekends and pushes the room past 02:00. No kitchen so eat first.