Entertainment in Rome
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Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
After seeing the functional and Fascist-era exterior, the interior of Rome's premier opera house – all plush red and gilt – is a stunning surprise. This theatre has an impressive history: it premiered Puccini's Tosca, and Maria Callas sang here. Built in 1880, it was given a Fascist makeover in the 1920s. Contemporary productions don't always match the splendour of the setting, but you may get lucky. Tickets for the ballet cost anywhere between €12 and €80; for the opera you'll be forking out between €23 and €150.
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Freni e Frizioni
All the young dudes' favourite cool Trastevere bar was a garage in a former life, hence its name ('brakes and clutches'). The arty crowd flocks here to slurp well-priced drinks (especially mojitos), feast on the good-value aperitivo and spill into the piazza out the front.
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Akab
This eclectic former workshop has an underground cellar, an upper floor, a garden and a whimsical door policy. On Tuesdays it's electronica L'Etrika, while it goes hip hop and R&B on Thursday. Expect local live (often cover) bands on Friday, R&B and house on Saturday. Entrance is €15, including a complimentary drink.
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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.
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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).
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Etablì
Housed in an airy 17th-century palazzo, Etablì is a fab rustic-chic lounge bar-cum-restaurant where Roman lovelies float in to have a drink, read the paper, indulge in aperitivo and use the wifi. It’s laid-back and good-looking, with an eclectic soundtrack and original French country decor – think lavender tones, wrought-iron fittings, and comfy armchairs. Restaurant meals average about €35.
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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.
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Max’s Bar
Max is a gay Rome institution, and its unthreatening, welcoming vibe, backed by a hip-wiggling soundtrack of commercial house, is what has endeared it to so many men for so long.
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Auditorium Parco della Musica
Rome's premier concert venue, and one of Europe's most popular arts centres, this state-of-the-art modernist complex combines architectural innovation with perfect acoustics. Designed by Renzo Piano, its three concert halls and 3000-seater open-air arena stage everything from classical music concerts to tango exhibitions, book readings and film screenings. The auditorium is also home to Rome's top orchestra, the world-class Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (www.santacecilia.it). To get to the auditorium, take tram 2 from Piazzale Flaminio or bus M from Stazione Termini, which departs every 15 minutes between 5pm and the end of the last performance.
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Circolo degli Artisti
One of Rome's nightlife venues that hits the spot, Circolo is the place for alternative music gigs. Friday night cracks open the electronica and house for gay night – Omogenic – and Saturday sees the fun-packed Screamadelica (punk-funk, ska and new wave), usually also featuring a live band. There's even a cool garden bar and admission is either free or a snip.
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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 beer costs €1.50). It attracts everyone from drug dealers, 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. Try the Sambuca con la Mosca ('with flies' – raw coffee beans).
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Ai Tre Scalini
The Three Steps is always packed, with crowds spilling out into the street. Apart from a tasty choice of wines, it sells the damn fine Menabrea beer, brewed in northern Italy. You can also tuck into a heart-warming array of cheeses, salami, and dishes such as porchetta di Ariccia con patate al forno (roasted Ariccia pork with roast potatoes).
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Accademia di Santa Cecilia
Rome’s major classical-music organisation, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia dates back to the 16th century when it was founded by, among others, the Renaissance composer Palestrina. The academy’s programme includes a world-class symphonic season – featuring superstar guest conductors – and short festivals dedicated to single composers. The inhouse orchestra is directed by London-born Italian Antonio Pappano, who is also musical director of London’s Royal Opera House.
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Casa dell'Architettura
As Rome gets its cultural groove back, a new league of themed cultural case (houses) is keeping culture-vultures busy. One of the lesser-known gems is Esquiline's Casa dell'Architettura. Set in a beautifully restored fin de siècle aquarium designed by Ettore Bernich, its flouncy, glass-domed hall regularly hosts architecture-themed exhibitions. It has a slick design-themed bookshop for coffee-table cred, and a raffish little garden for the concrete-jungle fatigued.
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Brancaleone
This former centro sociale is now one of Rome’s top clubs. Blockbuster DJs ratch up the tempo, pumping up the young, alternative crowd with house, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, reggae and electronica. Everyone from serious musos to skate kids will be in their element. The club is some distance from the city centre, just off Via Nomentana in the outlying Montesacro district.
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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.
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Micca Club
At eclectic Micca, pop art and jelly-bright lighting fills ancient arched cellars. The programme features everything from burlesque and the Italian Torture Garden, to glam rock and swing, with loads of live gigs. There’s an admission fee if a gig’s on and at the weekend. Register online for discounts.
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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).
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Rialtosantambrogio
This ancient courtyard-centred building is Rome’s most central centro sociale (social centre), with an art-school vibe and an edgy programme of theatre, exhibitions and art-house cinema. It also stages seriously kicking club nights and central Rome’s best gigs – check the website for upcoming events.
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Teatro Palladium
Once at risk of being turned into a bingo hall, the wonderful Teatro Palladium was rescued for the residents of Garbatella and has been beautifully renovated. The 1920s interior houses an eclectic, fascinating programme of classical music (including the Roma Tre Orchestra), contemporary theatre, children’s films and plays, and it’s one of the venues for the Autumn RomaEuropa festival.
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Il Barretto
Venture a little way up the Gianicolo, up a steep flight of steps from Trastevere. Go on, it’s so worth it: you’ll discover this cocktail bar, an architectural triumph. The bar is mostly huge plate-glass windows overlooking the district, and there’s a garden terrace. The basslines are meaty, the bar staff hip girls with glossy curtains of hair, the interior mixes vintage with pop art, and it’s genuinely cool. A G&T costs €8.
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L'hotel Aleph
The Aleph hotel is themed heaven and hell throughout. Downstairs is the Angelo bar: if this is heaven, it has borrowed hell's clothes, suffused in sexy black and lipstick-red Agent Provocateur boudoir chic. Else try the rooftop terrace and the 7 Heaven bar with views and more conventionally sublime white sunshades. It's a place to pose and feel like you're in a photo shoot. You might want to spin out your around €18 cocktail.
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Goa
Goa is Rome's serious super-club, with international names (recent guests include 2ManyDJs), a fashion-forward crowd, podium dancers and heavies on the door. The night to head here, though, is Thursday, when top Italian DJ Claudio Coccoluto showcases the best of Europe's electronic music DJs. Lesbian night, Venus Rising (www.venusrising.it), hits Goa on the last Sunday of the month.
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Teatro Argentina
Rome’s top theatre is one of the two official homes of the Teatro di Roma; the other is the Teatro India. Founded in 1732, it retains its original frescoed ceiling and a grand gilt-and-velvet auditorium. Rossini’s Barber of Seville premiered here and today it stages a wide-ranging programme of drama (mostly in Italian) and high-profile dance performances. Book early for the dance productions, which often sell out.
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Fanfulla 101
Hidden behind an unmarked workshop door, this is an underground cultural centre, a book-lined old hall that’s all vintage chic and left-leaning punters. The look is bohemian, arty beards are plentiful, and drinks are dirt cheap. There are regular live indie, jazz, reggae and rock gigs, plus jam sessions, particularly from Monday to Thursday. Tuesday is the night for art-house films, documentaries and poetry readings.
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