Rome’s enoteche, or wine bars, are the ideal place to drink wine paired with meat, cheese, or a light meal. Some offer full lunch and dinner service while others stick to the basic antipasto menu. The enoteche below are some of my favorites. Explore on your own or reach out to Parla Tours for a tasting!
Latteria
Vicolo della Scala 1
Latteria is my go-to for aperitivo and laid-back dinners, partly because it’s one of a few spots in Trastevere that is mercifully somewhat tucked away and pleasant to sit at for a long time. It’s an excitingly long list of natural wines here and the bottles are well worth exploring (there are cocktails too, if you want to start there before moving on to wine). There’s plenty of food to keep you satiated while you drink, whether you stay within snack territory (various small plates like bruschette, burrata, and delicious seasonal salads are always on offer) or turn it into dinner with some of their mains–the owner is Sardinian, so be on the lookout for the non-Roman, seasonally rotating dishes.
Il Goccetto
Via Banchi Vecchi 14
A great atmosphere and an extensive wines-by-the-glass list (there are up to 20 on offer) make this wine bar a cult favorite among oenophiles. Look for the painted ‘Vino e Olio’ sign above the entrance, and then push through the crowd of smokers to the wood-accented inner sanctum where the idiosyncratic owner Anna Ceccarelli has built an enviable cellar of more than 800 labels. In addition to salads (the apple and primosale is my fave), they offer a small menu of cold plates including cheeses and canapés. There are lots of conventional wines on the list for sure, but there are great natural bottles and outdoor seating on the street, a post-covid novelty.
L’Angolo Divino
Via dei Balestrari 12-14
Set in a charming backstreet south of Campo de’ Fiori, L’Angolo Divino is an atmospheric wine bar that started as a bulk wine and oil shop in 1946. Third generation owner Massimo Crippa serves hot and cold plates and light meals, as well as a nice selection of fine wines and spirits. The warm, wood-accented room and dim light make this one of my favorite spots for a night out.
Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi
Via di Santa Maria del Pianto 9A
When you want particularly fabulous cheese with a glass of wine, head to Beppe’s original location in the Jewish Ghetto–you can do a tasting of Italy’s finest cheeses, especially Alpine varieties from northern regions while enjoying one of Beppe’s well selected wines. There’s also cured meat, but I tend to stick to the stellar dairy instead.
Enoteca Il Piccolo
Via del Governo Vecchio 74-75
When you need a good place to sit and drink near Piazza Navona, trust that Enoteca Il Piccolo will deliver with great natural wines and, of course, a hard-to-beat location for soaking up the classic central-Roman atmosphere. Like L’Angolo Divino, it used to sell bulk wine and has evolved with the city since opening in 1980.
Da Corrado
Mercato di Testaccio (Box 18)
In between shopping for produce and trying to decide between all of the food options when you’re rambling through the Mercato di Testaccio, take a break to sit or stand at Da Corrado’s counter. They pour lovely wines (mostly natural/low-intervention) from many Italian regions. Besides the small but well-curated cheese selection, the daily menu often features various regions’ (especially southern) lesser known dishes, in mostly small-plate form. The scàmmaro and the meatballs rule.
Solovino
Via Rialto 25-27
The Trionfale neighborhood just behind the Vatican is packed with awesome places to drink, and Solovino is my favorite wine bar among them. All natural wines and a nice menu featuring vegetable-forward small plates and cheffy snacks, which are available whether you pop in during the day or in the evening (which I do often during my tours).
Vinaietto
Via Monte della Farina 38
This cozy, old-school wine bar in the centro storico (right around the corner from Antico Forno Roscioli and Roscioli’s Salumeria) has a wide array of Italian wines lined up on shelves in their delightfully claustrophobic rooms. Bonus: they serve hard boil eggs, which Romans swear mitigate the effects of drunkenness.
La Barrique
Via del Boschetto 41
La Barrique’s assortment of sparklers is stellar and the white, red, rosé, and orange wines showcase excellent and affordable producers from Italy, France, Austria, and Slovenia. The list of wines by the glass is extensive and ideal for solo drinkers eager to taste a variety of styles, but groups should dive into the fabulous bottles list.
Mostò
Viale Pinturicchio 32
Mostò, which opened in 2015, is a natural wine-oriented bar in Rome but slightly away from the fray of the immediate center. Set on a residential street in the Flaminio district, not far from Renzo Piano’s Auditorium and Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI, this neighborhood enoteca has an especially fun selection of pét-nat from Italy and France, which owner Ciro Borriello pairs with oysters, fish tartare, and exceptional buffalo mozzarella.
La Mescita
Via Fincati 44
This wine bar in Garbatella is one of the most fun places to go out. The wine is excellent, the vibes are mellow. The food…not my favorite. Ditto for La Mescita’s Monteverde Vecchio location on Via Fratelli Bonnet. Don’t go on an empty stomach.
Latta
Via Antonio Pacinotti 83
On the southern end of Trastevere near the train station, Latta is a fun hangout where young Romans and big groups can drink craft beer, natural wine, and craft cocktails (the same team behind Latta owns the Jerry Thomas Speakeasy bar) in a sprawling space, including a great outdoor setup. The food menu leaves a bit to be desired but at least there’s popcorn lol.
Enoteca L’Antidoto
Vicolo del Bologna 19
This relative newcomer to the Trastevere district serves natural wine by the bottle (they don’t have a license to sell by the glass) and an assortment of small plates.
Vigneto
Piazza dei Condottieri 26/27
An awesome natural wine bar in the hipster Pigneto neighborhood, east of Rome’s center (call it Rome’s Bushwick, if you must).
Mostro
Piazza di Porta San Paolo
This place looks like a simple park café (notice the retro “Cafe du Parc” sign on the roof, a vestige from the previous ownership) in the middle of the piazza’s traffic circle, but Mostro is a great vibey spot for natural wines by the glass in a low-key setting. They also have cocktails on draft and specialty coffee.
Bulzoni
Viale Parioli 34-36
Located in the posh Parioli neighborhood, Bulzoni acts both as a bottle shop and bar where you can stop to sip a glass or two. The wines here reveal an impressive lineup of Italy’s best producers (both natural and traditional) as well as top bottles from France, Austria, and beyond. You can find a small selection of cheese and cured meats to graze on with your drink.
Piano C
Via Faleria 12
A wide selection of natural bottles, including many Lambruscos, orange wines, and non-domestic offerings from France and Germany await you at Piano C, in Rome’s cool and underrated San Giovanni neighborhood.
And here are some other places that I love very much but am too tired rn to do a proper write up for: Fischio (Trionfale), Tibibbo (Montagnola), Bar Bozza (Ostiense), Sorso (Ostiense/San Paolo), and OWine (Montagnola). All but Fischio are in southern Rome, so if you are extremely ambitious you can knock ’em all out in an epic wine bar crawl.
Experience Rome’s enoteche with an expert and book a tour today!
