Bar entertainment in Italy
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Colle Beretto
On the same square as the fortress-like Palazzo Strozzi, this bar/cafe opts instead for plate glass and beefy bouncers. The terrace is luxuriously fitted out with cushy sofas, while inside, pea-green neon and transparent Kartell chairs scream design. The aperitivo buffet is among the city’s most generous.
reviewed
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Freni e Frizioni
Everyone’s favourite hip Trastevere hang-out: in a former life, this bar/café was a garage, hence its name (‘brakes and clutches’). The arty crowd flocks here to slurp well-priced drinks (especially mojitos) and pack the piazza in front. You can eat breakfast here, have lunch, munch brunch at the weekend, and feast on the good-value aperitivo. Hell, you could even move in here.
reviewed
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La Dolce Vita
A perennial favourite of the city’s status-conscious youth and nearly young, Dolce Vita has stood up to competition from newer offerings such as Noir and Colle Beretto and remains the best place to show off your prowess in selecting designer labels. As weather permits, crowds spill out of the industrial-style interior onto the adjacent piazza, which would be stunning if it weren’t made to double as a car park.
reviewed
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Bar del Fico
At the time of writing Bar del Fico was undergoing some works to shore up its façade. By the time you read this, fingers crossed, this long-standing favourite of the capital's bohemians will have reopened and you can return to while away days and nights at its fig-tree-shaded tables. The elderly chess players never left: they carried on their games in the cobbled street beside the building site.
reviewed
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Les Affiches
Once the boho-favourite ‘Stardust’, but the name-and-management change doesn’t seem to have made much difference. The hep cats in cool hats are postcard-home handsome and hang out in the cobbled street as well as in the cramped red-and-black rooms inside, and there’s occasional live music at aperitivo o’clock (early evening).
reviewed
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Oibò
By day, it’s a neighbourhood bar where locals get their croissant and cappuccinos. But by night, Oibò becomes Via de’ Benci’s top hot spot, attracting a young-skewing crowd who down fruity cocktails and, despite space restraints, gyrate to house and pop sounds spun by resident DJs.
reviewed
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B>Gallery
Contemporary art buffs and the design-inclined know where to head for a cultured sip. Join them in the minimalist bookshop/bar for fashionable tomes and cool Camparis, or head into the basement gallery for anything from multimedia and fashion installations to Mexican photography.
reviewed
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Joshua Tree
Scruffy and relaxed, this is a tavern where bullshit is barred and the only Irish 'themes' come by way of Murphy's stout, moody shades of green and conviviality by the keg. It gets a lot louder as the night goes on but then don't we all?
reviewed
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Cabiria
Cabiria, a popular cafe by day, converts into a busy nocturnal music bar that continues on way past your bedtime. In summer, the buzz extends onto Piazza Santo Spirito, which becomes a stage for an outdoor bar and regular free concerts.
reviewed
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Il Rifrullo
Behind a cosy corner cafe hides a honeycomb of rooms and gardens that have become one of the ‘it’ waterholes in Florence, thanks especially to the generous aperitivo buffet that attracts the young, the restless and the hungry.
reviewed
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Caffè degli Spiriti
Grab a hammock, lie back and enjoy the vibe at this stylish lounge bar on the Bastione San Remy. If you get the munchies call for pizza (€7) or grilled meat (€17).
reviewed
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Tarnowska's
Watch your step as you pop down a couple of steps into this elegant hotel bar (locals know it as La Contessa, the Countess), ideal for a cocktail or postprandial brandy. With its polished tile floors, it spreads into several separate spaces. Alongside those having an animated chat over lovingly prepared tall drinks are other folks beavering away at computers, for this is one of those rare things in Venice, a wi-fi spot. The Russian Countess Maria Tarnowska, it is said, had one of her lovers assassinated in this very place.
The Russian Countess Maria Tarnowska, it is said, had one of her lovers assassinated in this very place.
reviewed
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Bar Terazza Danieli
Gondolas glide in to dock along the quay, while across the lagoon the white marble edifice of Palladio’s San Giorgio Maggiore turns into gold in the waters of the canal: the late afternoon scene from the Hotel Danieli’s recently restored balcony bar definitely calls for a toast. Arrive after lunch, and linger the afternoon away over a spritz (€10) or cocktail (€18 to €22) – preferably the sunset-tinted signature Danieli cocktail of gin, apricot and orange juices, and a splash of grenadine. Drinks come with complimentary nibbles and the occasional celebrity sighting.
reviewed
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Bar San Calisto
Those in the know head to the down-at-heel ‘Sanca’ for its basic, stuck-in-time atmosphere and cheap prices (a large beer costs €2.50). It attracts everyone from intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals to keeping-it-real Romans, alcoholics and American students. It’s famous for its chocolate – drunk hot with cream in winter, eaten as ice cream in summer. We’re reliably told that unless you have drunk a post-dinner coffee here, or a Sambuca con la Mosca (‘with flies’, with two or three raw coffee beans dropped in the drink), you will not truly know Trastevere.
reviewed
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Al Mercà
Discerning drinkers throng this upbeat bar for top-notch prosecco & DOC wines by the glass at €2 to €3.50, and scrap dinner plans in favour of cicheti, starting at just €1 for meatballs and mini-panini. Arrive by 6.30pm for the best selection of snacks and easy bar access, or mingle with crowds of stragglers stretching to the Grand Canal docks – there’s no seating, and it’s elbow-room-only at this little gem of a bar.
reviewed
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Cantinone Già Schiavi
Good lungs and long arms are instrumental in procuring orders during Cantinone’s cheerfully chaotic happy hour, when the entire neighbourhood descends for pallottoline (small bottles of beer) with salame crostini (open-face sandwiches with salami) and marinated artichokes. Students, gondola builders and Accademia art historians mingle on the quay out front, parting to greet the neighbourhood nonna (grandmother) and fetch her a glass of Soave.
reviewed
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Muro Vino e Cucina
No velvet rope here, though it’s the kind of snazzy urban place you’d expect to find one, given the aluminium bar, sexy backlighting and see-and-be-seen picture windows. Prices are friendly too, with wines by the glass starting at €2, respectable cocktails from €5, and €1.50 to €3.50 cicheti at the bar. The upstairs restaurant is swanky, but low tables out in the campo are more happening than any VIP lounge.
reviewed
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Café Noir
Morning brings the crowd that was here late last night back for espresso, only a little worse for the wear after all those top-shelf €6 to €8 cocktails. Architecture students, musicians and travellers converge for spritz in the calle (street), where the quickest way to start a conversation is to state any of the following: Calatrava is overrated, Albinoni is underrated, and spritz with Aperol is better than with Campari.
reviewed
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Doney H Club
A former dolce vita hang-out on Via Vittorio Veneto, the Doney is the best place to go in search of the contemporary equivalent in this no-longer-it zone. Housed in the plush Westin Excelsior Hotel, its outdoor section is like a sitting room on the street, ideal for smoking your fat cigar, sipping a cocktail, and eyeing up the other wealthy out-of-towners. It heats up around aperitivo time. There’s a DJ Friday and Saturday nights.
reviewed
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Harry's Bar
Aspiring auteurs throng the bar frequented by Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin, Truman Capote, Orson Welles and others, enjoying a signature €18 Bellini (Giuseppe Cipriani’s original 1948 recipe: fresh-pressed peach juice and prosecco ) with a side of reflected glory. Despite the basic bistro decor, this is one of Italy’s most expensive restaurants – stick to the bar to save financing for your breakthrough film.
reviewed
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Enoteca Properzio
Umbrian wineries aren’t usually open to the public, so one of the only chances visitors have of tasting several wines at once without breaking the bank (or getting sloshed) is to stop off at an enoteca in town. And there’s no better place in Umbria to do so than here, where for €30 you can try a half-dozen Umbrian wines while snacking on cheese, prosciutto and bruschetta. For €144, this enoteca will ship a dozen bottles abroad.
reviewed
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Good Caffè
In a charming ivy-hung location on a cobbled street, albeit a bit busy with passing cars, this is indeed good with a cosy wood-lined interior. It's a popular place to hang out, have a quick meal, a long drink or make use of the free wi-fi (particularly popular with American students from nearby John Cabot Uni). There are weekend DJs, aperitivi (18:30 to 21:30) and a cocktail costs only around €6 (around €9 after 18:00).
reviewed
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Diana Garden
Seasonally updated to keep you guessing, the bar is secreted by a vast leather curtain at the back of the Sheraton Diana’s lobby. Grab a freshly crushed peach Bellini and lounge beside the magnificent windows - the perfect possie to see who’s making a tit of themselves in the lush, low-lit garden. The aperitivo buffet is one of the city’s most rich and varied, though with drinks nudging €15 you’d be hoping for more than bruschetta.
reviewed
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Antica Osteria Ruga Rialto
Although seafood salads and the classic fritto misto e pattatine (lightly fried lagoon seafood and potatoes) – Venice’s answer to fish and chips – earn this osteria (pub-restaurant) a loyal following, drink is the common bond at this place by night’s end. The back room doubles as a gallery of local emerging artists, and the occasional live-music set fills the narrow alleyway with revellers all the way to the Grand Canal.
reviewed
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Caffè Blue
At this coolish student bar you may encounter live music, but it's more likely to be a DJ (Wednesday is a good night). If the DJ is good, the place packs to the rafters and punters spill out onto the street. It can be quiet on midweek evenings, which could be a good time to pop by with your laptop, as they have wi-fi for customers. On Thursday night there's a cocktail happy hour from 21:00 to 23:00. It has a good stock of whiskies, too.
reviewed
