Although Rome is undeniably a
major-league cultural and
historic city, it just doesn't
compare to London or Paris for
cutting-edge sophistication and
trendiness. In many ways it's
like an overgrown village. This
can be bad news for nightlife,
but it's great news for
food
. Romans, as a group, are still
very much in touch with the land
- many even have small farms of
their own in the countryside
nearby, or they return to their
home villages regularly. So the
city's denizens know a good deal
about freshness and
authenticity, and can be very
demanding when it comes to the
quality of the dishes they are
served.
Opening hours have been given
for all restaurants and cafés;
note, however, that many places
are closed during August.
Consequently, eating out is a
major, often hours-long,
activity in Rome, and the meals
you'll enjoy generally range
from good to truly remarkable.
You'll find that most city-centre
restaurants offer
standard Italian dishes,
although a few more adventurous
restaurants have been popping up
of late. At the geographical
centre of the country, Italy's
capital city also has numerous
establishments dedicated to a
variety of regional cuisines
, and a reasonable number of
excellent ethnic restaurants
, though many of these are in
outlying areas. Rome is also
blessed with an abundance of
good, honest pizzerias ,
churning out thin, crispy-baked
pizza from wood-fired ovens.
House wine is usually drinkable,
but rarely memorable, but there
are also any number of enoteche
- wine bars - who really
know their business. We've also
listed a range of places serving
snacks - though most bars
serve panini and tramezzini
- and, at the end of the
chapter, the best of the city's gelaterie
and pasticcerie .
Vegetarians will find
plenty of options in virtually
all Italian eateries. Many
pastas and pizzas, of course,
are made entirely without meat;
lentils and other beans and
pulses are a part of traditional
cookery; and wonderful fresh
vegetables and cheeses are
always available. Even so, there
are a number of restaurants that
specialize in vegetarian
cuisine, and some of them are
among the most appealing places
in Rome.
One final caveat :
generally speaking it's hard to
find truly bad food and rip-off
prices in Rome. However, it may
be wise to avoid places that are
adjacent to some major
monuments, such as the Pantheon,
Piazza Navona, or the Vatican.
The food in these places can be
poor, and the prices truly
outlandish, sometimes as much as
three times the going rate.
Drinking is not something Romans
do a lot of, at least not in
public. Despite that, you'll
find plenty of
bars in
Rome, and, although, as with the
rest of Italy, most are
functional daytime haunts and
not at all the kinds of places
you'd want to spend an evening,
due to the considerable presence
of Anglo-Americans, there are
plenty of more conducive bars
and pubs - there's now an Irish
pub practically on every corner
in central Rome. Many drinking
spots are slick and expensive
excuses for people to sit and
pose, but most have the
advantage of having late opening
hours - sometimes until 4am in
summer, and almost always until
around 1am. Prices start from
about L6000 for a medium (40cl)
beer (ask for a
media,
pronounced "maydia"),
but anywhere really fancy won't
charge any less than L10,000;
sitting at a table will usually
cost more, often as much as
twice the price. The only
slightly cheaper places you'll
find are the odd
birreria.
Opening hours have been given
for all bars and cafés; note,
however, that many places are
closed during August.
A recent phenomenon is the
upsurge of
wine bars (
enoteche
or
vinerie). The old ones
have gained new cachet and newer
ones, with wine lists the size
of unabridged dictionaries, are
weighing in too, often with
gourmet menus to go with the
superb wines they offer. There's
also been a recent proliferation
of wine-tastings (
degustazioni),
a chance to sample some
interesting vintages, often at
no cost. Those that still
concentrate on the fruit of the
vine, however, are many in
number and we've listed the best
here.
Bear in mind also that there
is sometimes considerable crossover
between Rome's bars, restaurants
and clubs. For the most part,
the places listed in this
chapter are drinking spots, but
you can eat, sometimes quite
substantially, at many of them,
and several could be classed
just as easily as nightclubs,
with loud music and occasionally
even an entrance charge.
Although we've, again,
divided these listings into the
usual neighbourhoods ,
the truth is that there are
plenty of drinking
establishments all over Rome.
However, the areas around Campo
de' Fiori and the Pantheon,
plus, of course, Trastevere and
Testaccio, are the densest and
most happening.
