Rome Tours & Travel

Baronato Quattro Bellezze

Via di Panico 23 tel 06.687.2865. Bus #64. Daily 8pm-2am. Moderate.

Definitely one-of-a-kind, this place is owned and run by the inimitable Dominot, life-long drag chanteuse, formerly of Paris, who performs Piaf here on Thursday evenings. There’s nothing else like it, at least not in Rome. Dominot is Tunisian by birth and the fare here is accordingly couscous, made by himself, including one for vegetarians. The decor is a charming hodge-podge of memorabilia from his glittering career, including a gaily-lit carousel pony that floats above the bar.

La Focaccia

Via della Pace 11 tel 06.6880.3312. Bus #64 or #492. Daily noon-3.30pm & 7pm-1am. Moderate.

Just off Piazza Navona, this place serves hearty, unusual dishes, a dozen different kinds of focaccia, pizzas and salads. Good desserts, too, and excellent red house wine.

Le Sorellastre

Via San Francesco di Sales 1b tel 06.718.5288. Bus #H or #75. Tues-Sat 7pm-2am.

This Trastevere bar and restaurant, serving Italian and international cuisine, is the only exclusively lesbian place in town.

Shops and services
Energie

Via del Corso 486, tel 06.687.1258. Metro A Spagna. Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-1.30pm & 3.30-8pm.

Clothing store with trendy young styles and friendly young assistants, plus a 15 percent discount if you flash your ARCI-Gay membership card (available for L20,000 through ARCI-Gay or at our sauna listings).

Libreria Babele

Via dei Banchi Vecchi 116, tel 06.687.6628. Bus #64. Mon-Sat 9.30am-7.30pm.

Rome’s gay and lesbian bookshop, with lots of gay-themed books, some in English, plus gadgets, posters, videos, guides and postcards. Towards the river from Campo de’ Fiori, just off Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

Zipper

Via Castelfidardo 18 tel 06.488.2730; fax: 06.488.2729; email: zipper.travel@flashnet.it. Web site: www.adv.it/zipper. Metro A Repubblica. Mon-Sat 9am-8pm.

Gay travel agent, located near Termini, brokering round-the-world or round-Italy travel for gay and lesbian groups and individuals

Alcatraz

Via Aureliana 38 tel 06.4201.3286. Metro Termini. Thurs-Sat 10pm-3am, Sun 5pm-2am.

Very near Termini Station, this video bar on three floors features music, big screens, “video hard”, a discotheque and a dark room. It has special theme evenings, too, such as “Army Night” on Thursdays, and there’s a Sunday Tea Dance starting at 5pm.

L’Alibi

Via Monte Testaccio 44 tel 06.574.3448. Bus #75. Wed-Sun 11pm-4.30am.

Predominantly - but by no means exclusively - male venue that’s one of Rome’s oldest and best gay clubs. Downstairs there’s a multi-room cellar disco and upstairs an open-air bar. There’s a big terrace to enjoy in the warm months. Situated in the middle of the lively Testaccio neighbourhood, with lots of fun restaurants and a plethora of activities in the summer. Free admission Wed & Thurs. Other nights L20,000.

Alpheus

Via del Commercio 271/b tel 06.541.3985. Bus #75 or Metro B Piramide. Fri only 10.30pm-4am.

Every Friday here at 10.30pm it’s the “Muccassassina”, a thoroughly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender event sponsored by the Mario Mieli Cultural Association. It’s a great night, with three different discos pounding away, a garden open in the warm months, and special events, such as drag shows and amateur male strippers. It costs L18,000 to get in, which includes one drink.

Apeiron

Via dei Quattro Cantoni 5 tel 06.482.8820. Metro Termini. Most nights 10.30pm-2am, later on Fri and Sat.

A big-screen video bar upstairs, erotic videos and dark room downstairs. Located in the Termini area, near the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. One-drink minimum for L6000.

Edoardo II

Vicolo Margana 14 tel 06.6994.2419. Bus #63 or #64. Tues-Sat 10pm-2am.

Right in the middle of the old Jewish Ghetto, just off Piazza Venezia, this medieval torture chamber theme bar, named after the infamously gay English king, is actually pretty tame. Quite a young crowd and conveniently cruisy if you’re having a wander through the centre of town. Membership is required, but it’s free.

Garbo

Vicolo di Santa Margherita 1/A tel 06.5832.0782. Bus #H or #75. Wed-Mon 10pm-2am.

A friendly Trastevere bar, with a relaxed atmosphere and a nice setting, just behind the main piazza. A nice mix of Italians and foreigners, presided over by Tom, the Irish proprietor. No admission charge. Drinks start at L5000.

Gender

Via Faleria 9 tel 06.7049.7638. Metro A Re di Roma. Tues-Sat 11pm-4am.

A bit of a step from the city centre, this multi-gender club specializes in theme nights, covering everything from erotic cartoons to drag lessons to sexy couple contests and more. L15,000 entrance.

L’Hangar

Via in Selci 29 tel 06.488.1397. Metro B Cavour or Metro A Vittorio. Tues-Sun 10.30pm-2am.

About halfway between Termini and the Roman Forum, just off Via Cavour, this is one of Rome’s oldest and least expensive gay spots, always crammed with young people. Monday night features gay videos, and Saturday night it’s almost impossible to get in the door it’s so jammed. There’s no charge to get in, you just take a ticket and pay when you leave for whatever you’ve had to drink.

Jam Session

Via del Cardello 13/a tel 06.6994.2419. Metro B Cavour. Wed only midnight-4am.

Wednesday night here is “gay party” night, with Seventies and Eighties disco music and loads of buff young Italians - a somewhat posey affair. The L10,000 entrance fee includes a drink.

Joli Coeur

Via Sirte 5 tel 06.8621.5827. Bus #310 or #63. Sat only 11pm-4am.

Pretty far from the centre, in the Villa Ada area, but this club features Rome’s only lesbian night every Saturday.

Piper

Via Tagliamento 9 tel 06.855.5398. Bus #63. Tues-Sun 11pm-4am, Sat & Sun also 4-8pm for youngsters.

Saturday nights are gay nights at this eclectic club

ARCI-Gay Caravaggio , Via Lariana 8, tel 06.855.5522. Rome branch of the nationwide Italian gay organization. Political gatherings every Wed 8.30-10.30pm. Social gatherings every Sun 5-8pm.

ARCI-Lesbica Roma , Via dei Monti di Pietralata 16, tel 06.418.0369; Web site: www.women.it/~arciles/roma. Again, the local branch of the national gay activist group. Social-political gatherings every Thurs 8.30-10.30pm.

Gay Information in English tel 06.541.3985, Mon evenings, 8.30am-10.30pm.

Gay Information in Italian tel 167.162.966, Mon-Fri 2-4pm.

Mario Mieli Cultural Association , Via Efeso 5, tel 06.541.3985; email: info@mariomieli.it. Web site: www.mariomieli.it. Rome’s gay activist organization, offering a broad range of social and health services. Welcome group Sat 3-6pm. Political group Mon 6.30pm. Volunteer group Wed 6.30pm.

The Year 2000 was a breakthrough year for gay and lesbian Rome . In direct competition with the pope’s officially homophobic policies, the Eternal City was declared the official site of “World Pride 2000″. The first week of July saw an inundation of the Rainbow Coalition from all over, come to celebrate their love among the ruins - which was interesting, considering that the city also hosted hundreds of thousands of Catholic pilgrims.

Intriguingly, Italy has never had anti-same-sex laws; it was presumably always enough simply to create an aura of massive disapproval around same-sex love. Consequently, gay and lesbian life in Rome is still conducted a bit on the sly, with gay venues hidden away and blacked-out from the street. There isn’t any danger - Rome is a remarkably safe city - just a pervasive feeling of original sin.

There’s a full range of same-sex offerings in Rome, although the city is certainly no Barcelona or Amsterdam The number of clubs, bars, saunas and such, is relatively limited, and you have to be on guard for the considerable presence of trade, usually recent arrivals from Eastern Europe, who cater largely to Vatican officials and other closet cases. However, you can certainly find a good time; there are also outdoor cruising/sex areas and some clubs have dark rooms, too, for those who prefer their encounters to be anonymous. There is no particularly gay part of town; clubs and bars are spread far and wide. Also, choices exclusively for women remain very few, although most places welcome both gay men and lesbians

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.
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Opening hours have been given for all bars and cafés; note, however, that many places are closed during August.
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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.

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.
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Opening hours have been given for all restaurants and cafés; note, however, that many places are closed during August.
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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.

Since the war , Italy has become renowned as a country which changes its government, if not its politicians, every few months, and for the rest of Italy Rome has come to symbolize the inertia of their nation’s government - at odds with both the slick, efficient North, and the poor, corrupt South. Despite this, the city’s growth has been phenomenal in the post-war years, its population soaring to close on four million and its centre becoming ever more choked by traffic. Though famous in the Sixties as the home of Fellini’s Dolce Vita and Italy’s bright young things, Rome is still, even by Italian standards, a relatively provincial place, and one which is in some ways still trying to lug itself into the twenty-first century. Great efforts were made to prepare the city for the arrival of the Millennium and the millions of visitors who came to celebrate the Jubilee (Holy Year) declared by the pope, and the city is looking better than ever; museums and monuments that have been closed for decades have reopened to an eager public. Traffic congestion is still a major problem in the city centre, but by the time you read this, it’s hoped that there will never have been a better time to visit Rome.

The eighteenth century saw the decline of the papacy as a political force, a phenomenon marked by the occupation of the city in 1798 by Napoleon; Pius VI (1775-1800) was unceremoniously sent off to France as a prisoner, and Napoleon declared another Roman republic, with himself at its head, which lasted until 1815, when papal rule was restored under Pius VII (1800-23).

Thirty-four years later a pro-Unification caucus under Mazzini declared the city a republic but was soon chased out, and Rome had to wait until Garibaldi stormed the walls in 1870 to join the unified country - the last but symbolically most important part of the Italian peninsula to do so. “Roma o morte”, Garibaldi had cried, and he wasted no time in declaring the city the capital of the new kingdom under Vittorio Emanuele I, and confining the by now quite powerless pontiff, Pius IX (1846-78), in the Vatican until agreement was reached on a way to coexist.

As capital of a modern European country, Rome was (some would say still is) totally ill-equipped, and the Piemontese rulers of the new kingdom set about building a city fit to govern from, cutting new streets through Rome’s central core (Via Nazionale, Via del Tritone) and constructing grandiose buildings like the Altar of the Nation. Mussolini took up residence in Rome in 1922, and in 1929 signed the Lateran Pact with Pope Pius XI (1922-39), a compromise which forced the Vatican to accept the new Italian state and in return recognized the Vatican City as sovereign territory, independent of Italy, together with the key basilicas and papal palaces in Rome, which remain technically independent of Italy to this day. Mussolini’s motivations weren’t dissimilar to the popes, however, when he bulldozed his way through the Roman Forum and began work on the futuristic, self-publicizing planned extension to the city known as EUR. Rome was declared an “open city” during World War II , and as such emerged from the war relatively unscathed. However, after Mussolini’s death, and the end of the war, the Italian king, Vittorio Emanuele III, was forced to abdicate and Italy was declared a republic - still, however, with its capital in Rome.

As time went on, power gradually became concentrated in a handful of families , who swapped the top jobs, including the papacy itself, between them. Under the burgeoning power of the pope, the city began to take on a new aspect: churches were built, the city’s pagan monuments rediscovered and preserved, and artists began to arrive in Rome to work on commissions for the latest pope, who would invariably try to outdo his predecessor’s efforts with ever more glorious self-aggrandizing buildings and works of art.

This process reached a head during the Renaissance ; Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo all worked in the city, on and off, throughout their careers. The reigns of Pope Julius II (1503-13), and his successor the Medici pope, Leo X (1513-22), were something of a golden age: the city was at the centre of Italian cultural and artistic life and site of the creation of great works of art like Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Stanze in the Vatican Palace and fine buildings like the Villa Farnesina, Palazzo Farnese and Palazzo Spada, not to mention the commissioning of a new St Peter’s as well as any number of other churches. The city was once again at the centre of things, and its population had increased to 100,000. However, in 1527 all this was brought abruptly to an end, when the armies of the Habsburg monarch, Charles V, swept into the city, occupying it - and wreaking havoc - for a year, while Pope Clement VII (1523-34) cowered in the Castel Sant’Angelo.

The ensuing years were ones of yet more restoration, and perhaps because of this it’s the seventeenth century that has left the most tangible impression on Rome today, the vigour of the Counter-Reformation throwing up huge sensational monuments like the Gesù church that were designed to confound the scepticism of the new Protestant thinking, and again using pagan artefacts (like obelisks), not to mention the ready supply of building materials provided by the city’s ruins, in ever more extravagant displays of wealth. The Farnese pope, Paul III (1534-50), was perhaps the most efficient at quashing anti-Catholic feeling, while, later, Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) was perhaps the most determined to mould the city in his own image, ploughing roads through the centre and laying out bold new squares at their intersections. This period also saw the completion of St Peter’s under Paul V (1605-1621), and the ascendancy of Gian Lorenzo Bernini as the city’s principal architect and sculptor under the Barberini pope, Urban VIII (1623-44) - a patronage that was extended under the Pamphili pope, Innocent X (1644-55).

It was the papacy, under Pope Gregory I (”the Great”; 590-604) in 590, that rescued Rome from its demise. In an eerie echo of the empire, Gregory sent missions all over Europe to spread the word of the Church and publicize its holy relics, so drawing pilgrims, and their money, back to the city, and in time making the papacy the natural authority in Rome. The pope took the name “Pontifex Maximus” after the title of the high priest of classical times (literally “the keeper of the bridges”, which were vital to the city’s well-being). Four of the city’s great basilicas were built during this time, along with a great many other early Christian churches, underlining the city’s phoenix-like resurrection under the popes, who as well as building their own new structures converted those Roman buildings that were still standing - for example fortifying the Castel Sant’Angelo to repel invaders. The crowning a couple of centuries later of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, with dominions spread Europe-wide but answerable to the pope, intensified the city’s revival, and the pope and city became recognized as head of the Christian world.

There were times over the next few hundred years when the power of Rome and the papacy was weakened: Robert Guiscard, the Norman king, sacked the city in 1084; a century later, a dispute between the city and the papacy led to a series of popes relocating in Viterbo; and in 1308 the French-born Pope Clemente V (1305-16) transferred his court to Avignon. In the mid-fourteenth century, Cola di Rienzo seized power, setting himself up as the people’s saviour from the decadent ways of the city’s rulers and forming a new Roman republic. But the increasingly autocratic ways of the new ruler soon lost popularity; Cola di Rienzo was deposed, and in 1376 Pope Gregory XI (1370-78) returned to Rome.