Boutique hotels
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Babuino 181
- Style
- Chic renovated palazzo
- Setting
- Bustling Via del Babuino
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Crossing Condotti
- Style
- Elegant neo-Baroque apartment
- Setting
- Chic Condotti side-street
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Hotel de Russie
- Style
- Grandeur with gardens
- Setting
- Between the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo
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Hotel Palazzo Manfredi
- Style
- Caesar’s palace
- Setting
- Fringed by the Forum
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Il Palazzetto
- Style
- Wine-lovers' world
- Setting
- A stagger from the Spanish Steps
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Margutta 54
- Style
- Sleek suite sanctuary
- Setting
- Spanish Steps bohemia
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Mario de' Fiori 37
- Style
- Refined Roman retreat
- Setting
- Vibrant Via Condotti
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Portrait Suites
- Style
- Roman fashion house
- Setting
- Spanish Steps shopping streets
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Residenza Napoleone III
- Style
- Super-luxe palazzo
- Setting
- Fashionable Via Condotti
Rome Eating, drinking and dancing
Restaurants
(+39 06 445 4105)
Arancia Blu
Arancia Blu is a stylish, alternative, urban bistro with a great wine list. Vegetarian restaurants are a rarity in these parts – but this boho babe is a contender for Rome’s best.
55–65 via dei Latini, Rome
(+39 06 687 4927)
Camponeschi
Eat in one of the best fish restaurants in Rome, while enjoying a front-row view of the Piazza Farnese. Praise has been heaped on the ambiance, the service and the food here: come and try it for your yourself.
50 Piazza Farnese, Rome
(+39 06 580 3601)
Da Lucia
It’s well worth tracking down this gem of a trattoria on a cobbled backstreet. It's packed to the rafters with locals and specialises in simple, typically Roman dishes, such as spaghetti with pecorino and pancetta, and fried artichoke hearts.
2 Vicolo del Mattonato, Trastavere
(+39 06 322 6273)
Gusto
Gusto is a huge restaurant, pizzeria, deli, wine bar, cookstore and bookshop all in one, good for weekend buffet brunch when you refill as many times as you like and pay for what you eat by weight (of the food, not of yourself once you’ve finished). Open daily, 12.30–3pm and 7.30 till midnight.
9 Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 00186 Rome
(+39 06 324 3334)
Il Brillo Parlante
A wine bar that also does very good food. Choose from a menu of some 20 wines by the glass at the bar and/or eat downstairs in one of the several wood-panelled rooms. The menu is relatively extensive, and covers plenty of snackable ground from cured meats and crostini via pastas and grilled meats to wood-fire-oven pizzas.
12 via delle Fontanelle, Rome
(+39 06 687 7365)
Il Drappo
Quiet, with subdued lighting and soft music, this two-roomed restaurant is a charming, romantic place to sample an array of inventive Sardinian specialities.
9 Vicolo del Malpasso, 00186 Rome
(+39 06 683 01296)
L’Altro Mastai
This stellar addition to Rome’s list of Michelin-starred restaurants serves exciting Mediterranean dishes, with unusual twists on classic flavours. We loved chef Fabio Baldassarre's beetroot ice-cream. Open daily from 7.30pm.
53 via Giraud, 00186 Rome
(+39 06 688 02427)
Santa Lucia
Located behind the Piazza Navona, sometime celeb-haunt Santa Lucia provides comfortable outdoor seating and simple, traditional Italian food such as pastas, seafood and vegetarian dishes.
12 Largo Febo, Rome
Bars
(+39 06 679 7544)
Antica Enoteca
A drink in this dark, atmospheric spot in an ancient wine cellar is the perfect ending to a visit to the nearby Spanish Steps. Enter through a discreet door and decide whether to opt for a tiny table in the back, or stand at the bar where wine bottles are stashed in every nook and cranny.
76B via delle Croce, Rome
(+39 06 5833 4210)
Freni e Frizioni
This quirky café-bar in up-and-coming Trastevere is housed in a former garage (thus the name, 'Brakes and clutches'. The patrons tend to spill out into the square outside, cocktails in hand. Also a nice spot for Sunday brunch or a quick morning espresso.
4–6 via del Politeama, Trastavere, Rome
Cafés
(+39 06 699 1243)
Giolitti
A veritable institution: one of Rome’s oldest ice-cream parlours, Giolitti dates back to 1900 and is within my-cone-hasn’t-melted distance of the Pantheon. Classic interiors complement the Italian versions of knickerbocker glory and peach melba.
40 via Uffici del Vicario, Rome 00186
(+39 06 679 3924)
Il Gelato di San Crispino
Handily located near the Trevi fountain, this gelateria is claimed by many to make the best ice cream in Rome, if not the whole country. Flavours are seasonal and made with top-quality ingredients. Try a classic stracciatella, pistachio or hazelnut, or something more exotic, such as liquorice root, green tea, or saffron.
42 via delle Panetteria, Rome 00187
