Book
In Italian they should be called vintners or wine shops, but English-speaking tendencies or fashion lead many Italians too to use the term wine bar. It is clear that for us, in this case, there is no difference because the main character is one and one only: WINE.
Enjoying a good bottle among the streets of the historic center of Rome has a unique charm that wins you over ... and as many of our guests learn to understand, the wine bars of Rome are perhaps the best in the world: delicious food at affordable prices, well-stocked cellars with unique bottles, a great culture as regards local labels.
Many Romans too are starting to prefer the wine bars and wine shops of the capital as meeting places. The wine bars are the ideal place for chatting with friends and acquaintances and to spend time relaxing. For this reason, we present you with a mini guide to find your way in the crowded world of the wine shops and wine bars of Rome near the Spanish Steps. Naturally, the order of selection that we present strictly follows their proximity to our establishment.
We start with L'Antica Enoteca on Via della Croce, a short walk from our hotel, just 200 meters away, which is a wine bar and restaurant where you can stop for a pleasant aperitif and sample the really very good cheeses and cold meats, and of course there is a large selection of wines. The locale has a very welcoming atmosphere with two rooms inside and tables out front. If you come for dinner try the excellent seafood entrees but there are also several very good first and second courses.
Via della Croce, 76, 00187 Roma
Tel. +39 06 6790896
Moving on to Enoteca Regionale del Lazio VyTA, which is located a few steps from the Spanish Steps (450 meters from our hotel, about 5 minutes walk) at Via Frattina No. 94, this is the headquarters of the Regional Vintners of Lazio, where you can choose from over 100 wines of Lazio and a thousand local products at reasonable prices. Undoubtedly very handy if you are out shopping in the streets of the historic center of Rome, ideal for a snack at the bar accompanied by a glass of wine from Lazio or for lunch in the restaurant. Enoteca Regionale del Lazio VyTA is on two floors: the ground floor wine bar with a tasting area of 20 meters and food and wine sales, and on the first floor a restaurant with a menu based on local seasonal produce.
Via Frattina,94 , 00187 Roma
Tel. +39 06 9818 4507
Then there is Gusto, is a modern tavern which is a successful wine shop and wine bar. Again it is nearby with a walk through the historical center of Rome of just seven minutes from the Spanish Steps (650 meters from our hotel), and it attracts many visitors with it original and dynamic ambience, and very interesting is the possibility of tasting micro portions of everything with special attention being paid to matching food with quality wines.
Piazza di S. Apollinare 41, 00186 Roma
Tel. +39 06 6813 4221
We move on to Casa Bleve, a wine shop that makes elegance its best weapon, located near the Pantheon in a palace of the sixteenth century, a mile away from the Spanish Steps. The locale is very welcoming and refined, the selection of wines by the glass is one of the best in Rome, with good quality and price. From the menu you can choose from a large selection of quality cheeses, cold meats, smoked fish and salads. The lunch buffet is very tasty, going from Apulian burrata to peppers from Calabria to Sicilian pastries. A visit to the cellar is recommended.
Via del Teatro Valle, 48 00186 Roma
Tel. +39 06686 5970
The Cul de Sac wine shop inspired the opening of numerous wine bars in Rome, it is in Piazza di Pasquino at number 73 and is reached with a walk of about two kilometers from the Spanish Steps. No one knows who has worked to spread the word but this historic wine bar is always very crowded, a meeting place after the theater for actors and audiences drawn to the simple and friendly atmosphere: inside you can enjoy a selection of 1,500 wines, sparkling wines and champagne, as well as dishes of traditional Roman and international cuisine, a huge selection of Italian and French cheeses and cold meats from every Italian region.
Piazza di Pasquino, 73 00186 Roma
Tel. +39 06 68801094
The Goccetto is a beautiful wine shop in Via dei Banchi Vecchi at number 14, and you get there after a good walk of two kilometers from the Spanish Steps through the most characteristic streets of the historical center of Rome. A retro-style tavern, where even the sign has remained unchanged and simply reads Wine and Oil. The Goccetto is a characteristic locale, it is like diving into Italy of the Thirties, with a beautiful lacunar ceiling, an incredible counter, the blackboard of wines by the glass and very many bottles arranged along the walls. Here continues the tradition of generations with a large variety of wines and a careful search for quality labels, and for this reason it has become the reference point for sommeliers, enologists and wine-and-food experts. The Goccetto also offers really tasty snacks and very inviting plates of cold cuts and cheeses but what makes this place special is the atmosphere with its relaxed and friendly customers.
Via dei Banchi Vecchi, 14, 00186 Roma
Tel. +39 06 6864 268
With a walk of about two kilometers from the Spanish Steps we reach Via Cernaia No. 37, where the Trimani wine bar welcomes us in a warm and friendly atmosphere in which to enjoy fine and refined wines. It is known that Francis Trimani was already selling wine in a shop on the corner of Piazza dei Coronari in 1821 and that the one in Via Goito, opened in 1876, is perhaps the oldest wine shop in Rome. From then the business has continued by adapting the sales point to the demands of the market, from tavern with kitchen to the current shop that has about 6,000 labels of wines from Italy and around the world. In 1991, the wine shop was joined by the Trimani Wine Bar, a restaurant that has in wine one of its strengths. It was the first Italian locale to call itself a wine bar, helping to create what today is in fact a very mixed category of locales.
Via Cernaia, 37 00185 Roma
Tel. tel. +39 06 4469630
We continue our tour with a locale that is further away from the Spanish Steps, the Enoteca Ferrara, and the restaurant is still in the center of Rome in Trastevere at Piazza Trilussa No. 41 (just 2.5km from our hotel). The Enoteca Ferrara offers a pleasant and refined atmosphere, where the protagonist is always the wine! The wine list is a veritable book of over 400 pages with over 1,000 labels and if you want any suggestions the sommelier is very helpful and friendly. The place is a maze of rooms divided into three zones: the first devoted to the bar is ideal for a tasty aperitif, the second is a small room with tables and the third zone is the restaurant that is developed over several rooms. The cuisine is very refined and full of imagination, the menu offers a wide variety of appetizers, first courses, main courses and desserts: the food and wine are great, even if the bill is not exactly cheap.
piazza Trilussa, 41, 00153 Roma
Tel. +39 06 58333920
