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Gladiatori Hotel Terrace Bar
A small flower-ringed terrace on the rooftop of the swish little Hotel Gladiatori, this bar is open to all. It has a fantastic view of the Colosseum and is ideal for a sundowner or an after-dark cocktail (around €12 to around €16 ). Well worth it for the view.
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Gloss
With rough red walls, modern art and regular DJ and live music sets - mostly house and electrofunk - Gloss is appealingly laid-back, attracting a lively, but not too intimidatingly dressed-up crowd.
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Goa
Trend-setting industrial decor, plasma screens and top tunes keep Goa at the forefront of Italian clubbing. National and international DJs spin house, electronic and experimental sounds. Serious clubbers shouldn't miss the Thursday 'Ultrabeat' session. One Sunday a month it's 'Gorgeous Goa' gay night; and one Friday a month it's 'Venus Rising' for the gals.
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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 ( to ) and a cocktail costs only around €6 (around €9 after ).
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Gran Caffè Esperia
A swank cafe by the river (unfortunately, there's a busy road in between), this is a large, glittery place of polished wood, brass and crystal chandeliers. It's frequented by a conservative crowd of well-dressed professionals who come for all the usual coffee combinations as well as the famously fine snacks, both sweet and savoury.
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Gregory's
If it were a tone of voice, it'd be husky: unwind in the downstairs bar then unwind some more on squashy sofas upstairs to some slinky live jazz, with quality local performers. Gregory's is a popular hang-out for local musicians.
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Hangar
A historic landmark on Rome's gay map, Hangar has been attracting punters of all ages for more than 20 years. The Italian and foreign clientele includes a significant number of cruising gym bunnies keen to try out the new dark room. It gets especially crowded at weekends and on Monday nights for the weekly porn screenings.
You need to have an Arcigay card (Euro15) to get in.
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Il Goccetto
An old-school enoteca (wine bar) with a dark interior and bottles lining the wooden walls, Il Goccetto is a genuine Roman wine bar. Join the regulars at the bar for a glass or go the whole hog and order a bottle from the impressive selection of international and Italian vintages.
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Il Nolano
Taking its name from Giordano Bruno da Nola, the hooded monk-Obiwan lookalike in the centre of the campo (field), Il Nolano is a refined little arty wine bar with peeling paint, rickety tables, and old wooden cinema seats. It's often used for art exhibitions and book presentations.
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Il Pentagrappolo
A few blocks from the Colosseo in Celio, this star-vaulted place has 250 labels to choose from and about 15 wines by the glass. There's live jazz or soul from about and aperitivo ( to ). Readers have had fun here, as well as at the enoteca opposite, Kottabus (06 772 01 145; Via Celimontana; ; - ).
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Il Posto Delle Fragole
For an alternative night out you can't get more offbeat than this homely Swedish associazione culturale (cultural association). It offers an ample selection of beer and wine, a menu of Scandinavian food (including reindeer meat) and an eclectic events calendar, ranging from world music concerts to chess tournaments.
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Il Seme E La Foglia
Once upon a time an ordinary bar, the position of this place at the edge of Testaccio's nightlife strip has seen it become a hip pre-club stop. It's tiny and tangerine-coloured inside, with street-side seating where you can earwig conversations on topics as diverse as nihilism and where to go next.
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Il Tiaso
Think walls of indie art, Lou Reed biographies shelved between the wine bottles, and 30-something owner Gabriele playing his latest New York Dolls album to neo-Beatnik chicks, corduroy professors and the odd neighbourhood dog. Wine is well priced and the vibe intimate and chilled.
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Istituzione Universitaria Dei Concerti
The IUC organises a season of concerts in the Aula Magna of La Sapienza university, including many visiting international artists and orchestras. Held from October to May, performances cover a wide range of musical genres, including baroque, classical, contemporary and jazz. It could be the works of Mozart one week, Miles Davis the next.
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L'Alibi
For years regarded as Rome's premier gay spot, L'Alibi now attracts a mixed gay and straight crowd. Ranging across three floors, including an enormous summer roof terrace, L'Alibi has comfy sofas to relax on and conventional house music to dance to, depending on your pastime of preference.
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L'Angolo Divino
A hop and a skip from the busy campo , this corner vini e olio shop (wine and oil cellar) is an oasis of genteel calm, with an ample wine list and a select menu (dishes around €8 .50 to around €14 .50). A charming place with wooden beams and terracotta floors, and on the go since 1946, it's great for a quiet glass of wine, a nibble of cheese or a light meal.
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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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L'Oasi della Birra
The Oasis of Beer is just that, with over 500 different types. But this isn't just a beer-lovers' dream, it's charming, with intimate seating in the cellars beneath a well-stocked enoteca and lots of good food to soak up the alcohol, such as hearty stews (goulash around €14 ) or cheeses and cold cuts (six/eight varieties around €16 .50/18.50). Next door is an excellent formaggeria (cheese shop), if you're here during the day.
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La Barrique
A dark and cool, bottle-lined enoteca that on a summer's day is like balm after the heat-pounding street. La Barrique offers excellent wines - including a good list by the glass - accompanied by delicious snacks such as bruchettine (little bruschettas).
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La Bottega Del Caffé
Ideal for whiling away a morning, lunch, afternoon or evening, this appealing café-bar has greenery-screened tables out on the captivatingly pretty Piazza Madonna dei Monti with its fountain. Exchange glances with interesting, artsy types, foreign and local. A birra media (large beer) costs around €5 .
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La Casa del Jazz
In the middle of a 2500-sq-metre park in the southern suburbs, the Casa del Jazz (House of Jazz) is housed in a charming three-storey 1920s villa that belonged to a mafia boss. When he was caught the Comune di Roma (Rome Council) converted it into a beautiful jazz-tastic complex. There's a 150-seater auditorium, rehearsal rooms, a café and a restaurant.
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La Maison
Velvet banquettes, crystal chandeliers and a sleek resin-and-steel bar provide the sexy backdrop for a good-looking, flirty, 30-something crowd. Showy it might be, but it's also genuinely fun, with good music. Entrance is free if you can get past the door police, but drinks are from around €10 to around €15 a throw. There's no-one there before , but, as if by magic, it's chocka at 2.05.
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La Palma
Housed in two 18th-century houses on a former farm, La Palma is worth the trek for top-notch jazz, DJ sets or classical tunes. In summer the courtyard hosts a balmy jazz festival.
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La Saponeria
In a previous life, La Saponeria was a soap factory. These days, it lathers up the punters with guest DJs like techno princess DJ Karmina and Brazilian house-music meister Gui Boratto. Beats span nu-house, nu-funk, minimal techno and dance, with hip hop and R&B on Saturdays, and the occasional fetish event from Ritual Club (www.ritualtheclub.com).
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La Tazza D'oro
A busy, stand-up bar with burnished fittings dating from the 1940s and some of the best coffee in the capital, which means it's spectacularly good. A speciality is the granita di caffè, a crushed-ice, sugared coffee served with a generous dollop of cream top and bottom. If you just want cream on the top/bottom, ask for solo sopra/sotto .
