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.
Address: Vicolo Cellini 30, 00186 Roma, Rome
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.
La Punta is the Trastevere agaveria from the Jerry Thomas Project team, with one of Italy's deepest tequila and mezcal back bars paired with a tight Mexican-inspired food menu, and a tucked-in feel that reads more speakeasy than bar.
Tip: Small room, no street signage, reservations advised on weekends. Ask the bartender to walk you through the agave list; the back bar is the whole point.
Freni e Frizioni has run a Trastevere ex-garage at Via del Politeama since 2007, with a small inside room, an aperitivo buffet from 19:00 and the river-side piazza outside that fills with a young Roman crowd well past midnight.
Tip: Six euro cocktails through aperitivo include the vegetarian buffet, the cheapest way to drink in Trastevere. The piazza in front is the room past 22:00.
Coming Out opened in 2001 across the street from the Colosseum and anchors the Via di San Giovanni in Laterano gay strip, with a cafe-bar that runs from morning coffee through late-night karaoke and drag programming that fills the small dance floor on weekends.
Tip: Almost never closes, with a 07:00 to 05:30 daily cycle that makes it the go-to after-hours on the strip. Drag on Sundays and occasional Wednesdays.