Rome · Nightlife

Italy's first speakeasy bar, opened in 2010, at Vicolo Cellini 30 behind Via Giulia, with a second Bar Room at Via del Moro 10 in Trastevere. It is a small, unmarked room built around classic mixing; check the site or message ahead, because access has never been simply walking in.

A former mechanic's garage above Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere, which is where the name comes from. The early-evening aperitivo spills onto the terrace over the river and it is one of the reliable starting points before the Trastevere lanes get going.

A large independent venue at Via Giuseppe Mirri 35 in Pietralata, with a theatre space for live bookings, club nights, a bar and kitchen, and a garden used through the summer. Plenty of the programme is free entry, and it draws a Roman rather than a visitor crowd.

Via Libetta 1 in Ostiense, the old industrial strip that holds most of Rome's club scene. Open Thursday to Sunday from 7pm until 4am, and until 5am on Friday and Saturday, with a garden for the early part of the night and club rooms later.

The horseshoe of bars and clubs built into the flank of Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill made of two thousand years of broken Roman amphorae. It is a weekend proposition rather than a weeknight one, and it starts late even by Roman standards.