BEST Rome Nightlife!
Written: Apr 25 '05
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Pros: The greatest nightlife. Chicest people. Most unique venues. Hands down.
Cons: Watch out for aggressive (but often hot) Italian men (and women) and pricey venues.
The Bottom Line: ASK THE LOCALS. Many of them, especially the young people, speak English. If you are polite and ask them where they like to go, they will tell you!
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| Sonictonic53's Full Review: Rome |
Rome definitely has one of the most vibrant and exciting nightlifes that I have ever experienced. Most people who I've spoken with have little regard for the night-time events and venues in Rome, but that's because most of the best places to go are kept under wraps by the locals. If you are going to Rome even for a few nights, I can guarantee that you can find something to fit your tastes.
When you look in the Rome maps in traveler's guides, you will see that the city is split into different districts, or territories. I would say that each district in the city has its own unique nightlife. Most of the best places to go are located along the main street known as Corso Vittorio Emanuelle. But to make things simpler, here are the best places to go, depending on the type of venue/events you prefer. :
NightClubs
1. SupperClub
Location: near Pantheon, go to (www.supperclub.com)
(by cab, tell the taxidriver you want to go to Largo Argentina. When you get there, cross the street called Corso Vittorio Emmanuele toward the giant book store and go down the side street to the left of the book store)
Price: about 10 Euros per drink
Dress: dress to impress (cocktail, designer jeans, etc)
This is one of my favorite places to go, and it's especially lively on Monday nights. SupperClub is a more high-end and modern/swanky club, very art deco and full of trendy and influential Romans as well as foreigners. The location is farely hidden, for a private club feel I assume. If you are female and are dressed nice, you should have no problem getting in. If you are a guy, tell the bouncer you know Mo, he's a bald Egyptian guy who runs the place.
It is off a very narrow street about two streets away from the Pantheon (directions/address is on the website) and serves as a restaurant in the earlier hours of the night --the menu changes daily and they offer a 5 course meal for around 60 Euros. This part of the experience is not worth the cash, the food is ok at best. But the club scene is much more worth it so arrive at around 10pm for the club portion of the night (if you arrive too late they won't let you in, they close at 2am). There are 3 stories in the club, each with several rooms filled with giant white beds where guests take off their shoes and relax with servers at their beck and call. The top floor and middle floor both have these "VIP" rooms where people can also dance (this area mostly plays house music). There is also a bar on the middle floor and bartenders are really hot and wear overalls with paint splashed all over their bodies. The bottom "basement" floor looks like a cave and a portion of it serves as a dance floor (the DJ usually spins hip hop here). There is another bar and bed area on the basement floor. Drinks are a little over 10Euros each, so if you're on a budget, I recommend you go to Todis or Di per Di (the supermarket chains) and pick up a 3 Euro bottle of polish vodka (called Wodka). Saved my starving student wallet :-D
This is by far one of my favorite places to go because the decor is gorgeous and very contemporary (everything is all white, it's like a P.diddy party), people are very stylish, and the music is pretty good.
2. Dune Bar
Location: Piazza SS Apostoli 52 (http://www.romadisconight.com/locali/dune/dune.asp)
(tell your cabdriver to go toward Piazza Venezia)
Price: about 7-10 euros per drink
Dress: clubgear
Dune is located underground and is one of the best dance clubs. It's usually pretty packed, but it's a great atmosphere and they play some of the best hip hop in Rome. The promoter is actually American, and he is often at the club giving out free drink cards and making people feel at home. (He's usually in the DJ booth, on the mic, and is this black guy with dread locks). If you approach him and ask, he will, if nothign else, give you free fuzzy navel shots from the bar.
The club has a dark, earthy feel and is one of the best places to meet people. They seem to be very friendly there. On Thanksgiving, they even had half-naked men serving turkey, stuffing,cranberry sauce, and everythign else that comes in an American feast. They definitely made me feel a lot less homesick while I was living in Rome.
3. Testaccio
Location: This is something of a Sunset Blvd. of Rome. It is a district of the city that houses a number of clubs, most of which line the street Via Monte Testaccio. (ask your cabdriver to go to Via Monte Testaccio or Ostiense)
Price: varies from club to club
Dress: Dress to impress
Testaccio offers a variety of different clubs and bars that cater to your musical taste and your wallet...
A. Jim Beam Coyote: For the more frugal club-goer, Jim Beam Coyote (just ask for "Coyote") is your best bet. Drinks are around 7 euros. The dance floor is small but very lively at the prime hours, and they play the top pop and hip hop hits until closing time (which is when they start blasting early 90s and 80s songs to get you out the door I assume).
B. Radio Londra: (and all the clubs lining the side where it's situated) are clubs that require a entrance fee. I think it was 15 Euros per person. And they don't make exceptions usually. It's harder to get into unless you're a female, but people are fun and it's very high end. It may not be worth it if you are planning on club-hopping instead of staying in one place.
C. Alpheus: This is a hip hop club with a huge dance floor and go go dancers. It's frequented by a younger crowd, and has a much more urban feel. They play great music but the clubgoers (especially the females) can be quite catty if you are a female as well.
D. Gay Village: Supposedly this club has moved a little bit further down Testaccio, but it should still be there. Just ask around and you'll be sure to find it. This is one of Rome's biggest gay clubs (as the name implies), very campy but very fun. They play pop music as well as some old campy favorite (i.e. Grease soundtrack and pre-Bed Time Stories Madonna). The last time I went, the entrance-way was decorated with a giant sperm hanging over it and there were lots of transsies chilling outside.
Bars
1. Il Bar
Location: in the middle of Campo Di Fiori, next to the gelateria.
Price: About 7Euros a drink (they make them very strong, and if you make friends with the servers -- Andreas, they will might just give you a drink for free. Be careful though, he kisses women when he's drunk)
Dress: casual
This is a great bar to sit at and people watch. They have tables set out in the piazza, and locals like to bring their dogs even to relax and have a midnight drink. (Il Bar makes a killer mojito. I like to ask for "piu di dolce". or more sugar). A lot of young people frequent this piazza so you will often see them playing drums or playing soccer in the middle of the square. There are also some street performers like the fire dancers or the one pathetic mime who all of Campo Di Fiori hates for some reason (probably because he's very bad at miming). There is an omenous statue of a hooded priest standing in the middle of the square, and if you ask a local or a bartender, they will tell you the interesting story behind it. If you are with a lady friend, the hawkers will come to you with roses for you to buy, but supposedly they pick them off graves. I dunno, it could just be a rumor.
2. The Drunken Ship
Location: Campo Di Fiori (you can't miss it)
Price: 7 to 10 euros per drink
Dress: Casual bar wear
This bar is one of the more famous places in Rome, frequented mostly by Enlish-speaking study-abroad students. The people that work there are American as well and very friendly. If you join a pub crawl in Rome, you are almost guaranteed to end up at Drunken Ship sometime during the night. I am personally not that fond of going there, only because I can see American college students any time I want back in the states and I'd rather be mingling with Italians when I'm in Italy. Nevertheless, this is a great place to go if you need an easy night without worrying about looking through your Italian dictionary to find the translation for "can I get a Vodka RedBull please". You can sometimes meet locals there as well, and these are usually the best English-speakers who, for some reason, love talking to Americans. Have fun with that.
If you get bored, you can always walk across the square to Il Bar. I use to also pre-party here before going to more expensive clubs nearby (SupperClub is just around the corner and across the street).
3. Alexanderplatz
Location: Prati district, Via Ostia 9
Price: 7 Euros for a month's membership, about 7-10 euros per drink, best bet is a bottle of wine
Dress: cocktail/semi-casual
This is THE BEST jazz club I've ever gone to! It's a great place to relax and is located near the Vatican in the Prati district. It's a little hard to find, it's down a small, dark street (but very much worth it, just ask your cabdriver to take you directly to the address above). This club is especialyl worth it if you have a longer stay in Rome beacuse the membership lasts a whole month. They have different guest performers daily, and there is a performance roster for each week. Alexanderplatz has great ambience--the stage is central, right in the middle of all the tables, and anywhere you sit in the house, you are pretty much right there next to the performers. This is a real treat for those who enjoy music, especially jazz and blues. I recommend ordering a bottle of wine from their winelist and maybe some dessert, and enjoying the music (which goes until about 1:30 to 2am).
Wine Bars
1. Jazz Cafe
Location: in Piazza Cavour, Via Zanardelli 12
Price: about 15-20 euros per bottle of wine, with a full dinner, will be about 30-50 euros per person
Dress: casual to dressy
Rome's recent trend is the wine bar, where people gather to dine and enjoy wines from extensive winelists. This place can be pricy if you're on a budget, but I would DEFINITELY splurge on dinner and wine here if possible, because it's very much worth it. The food is great, a little pricy but you can find cheaper entrees (like most of the pastas). They also serve some great coctail food, but the best is the wines. The servers are experts at recommending wines. Definitely try the dessert wine (Bracchetto D'Acqui) with a fruit and goat cheese plate. It is to-die-for. The atmosphere is very lively as well. It's called teh Jazz Cafe, but it's not really a jazz club. There is a DJ who spins some contemporary beats, but mostly it is a restaurant where I noticed trendy locals and their foreign counterparts come to enjoy a good meal with friends. The bar area offers different "tapas" or cocktail fingerfoods and friendly bartenders. The decor is a fusion of New York and Roman styles, there are unique chandeliers hanging from the ceiling where customers have posted comments and words of praise or even doodles on pieces of notepaper and tacked it to the lights. The barstools are actually giant bongo drums.
Other places to go:
You can often find small cafes and bars where they sell 2Euro bottles of Italian beer (the most common is Peroni, it's not too bad). Buy a few of those, maybe a panino, and you can walk around sightseeing all night.
Great places to go at night are...
1. Trevi Fountain - it's lit up at night and there still pretty crowded, but you can enjoy the water and a couple of cointosses with your Peroni and sandwhich in hand.
2. Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps)
3. San Pietro (St. Peters Square, Vatican) - yes, I know this is a holy place, but still, admiring the holy city from the big granite benches lining the street leading to the Vatican with a couple of beers is very satisfying, and the locals do it too.
4. Tiber River - it's got dirty/murky water, but walking along this at night is a totally different feeling from what it's like during the daytime
5. Trastevere - (literally meaning "across the tiber"), it is on the other side of the river, away from Corso Vittorio Emanuelle. This is where the younger locals like to hang out, and there is a myriad of little cafes and bars to discover here. It's usually pretty lively at night, with street performers, drummers, and musicians. The locals here can be a little less forgiving with the foreigners, so dress down and don't cause too much of a raucous. Most of all, DON'T wear skinny heels... your feet will for sure get caught in between the cobblestones, and the Roman girls will be guaranteed to mock you for your stupidity. Actually, try to wear comfortable shoes all around the city becaues the cobblestones are everywhere. Definitely come here if you want the true feel of urban Rome.
6. Pantheon - on rainy days, definitely invest in going here... it is an amazing sight! The rainwater drops through the hole at the dome of the building and then drainings through the tiny holes camouflaged in the decorated slabs of rock on the ground.
7. Colosseum - (not for the faint of heart) It's locked at night, but if you're brave enough, try climbing over the giant gates. The inside is lit up for some reason anyway, and it's definitely worth seeing at night. It IS the belly button of the world after all.
If you are staying at a hostel or hotel, be sure to ask the front desk about the places I've listed and even where employees like to visit on their free time. They can give you more specific directions and details. Make friends with the locals! The bus and metro systems will save you money, but are extremely confusing if you've never ridden them. Make sure to do your research before you get on one. Remember that the metro stops after 11pm, and night buses take less frequent stops (sometimes it takes up to an hour for them to make the rounds), and ALWAYS have a pass with you because the fine can be very pricey.
Also, the Frommer's guide is a great source for many of the venues, a few of which I've mentioned. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/rome/64_indnight.html
Another site that lists the best places to go is:
http://www.wheninrome.it/bars&pubs.htm
Have fun and buona fortuna!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Singles
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
Sonictonic53
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Member: Yanyi
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I love to travel, to meet new people, and to share new discoveries with everyone.
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