The 17 Best Cafes for Proper Coffee in Rome, Italy

Just around the corner from the Pantheon, this famous Rome cafe has been keeping the locals wired since 1938. Historic but unpretentious, Sant’ Eustachio selects beans from cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Brazil to make its brews. What sets this place apart is the unusual preparation method – if you want your coffee zuccherato (with sugar), the barista will do it for you by adding a spoonful of a sweet, frothy foam made from the first few drops of an espresso whipped with sugar.

Get a real taste of Rome’s best cafes with these tea and coffee tours.

Established in 1946, Tazza d’Oro is held in high regard by coffee-guzzling Romans who come for the top-notch espresso, cappuccino and, of course, the famed granita al caffè. This icy, slushy coffee drink is served with whipped cream and provides a sweet hit of caffeine and calories. Roasted coffee beans, tea blends, and other gift items are also on sale. Outside, facing onto the Piazza della Rotonda, you’ll find a vending machine that dishes out packs of coffee 24/7.

A green vintage tram shelter has found new life in the neighbourhood of Testaccio as a fun coffee shop and late-night drinking spot. Tram Depot serves up a range of coffees, including harder-to-find (in Rome, at least) syphon and dripper varieties, as well as cocktails, fresh juices, smoothies and a small selection of pastries and sandwiches. There’s no space for roasting in this tiny kiosk, so it sources its coffee from Torrefazione Lady Café, an artisanal producer based outside Parma. Note it’s closed during winter.

These Roman coffee tours reveal the best of the Italian capital’s cafes and coffee shops.

Panella is best known for its artisanal breads and pastries – check out the window display of intricate dough sculptures shaped like the Colosseum and other Rome icons – but the outdoor seating area, draped in colourful and shade-giving flowers, makes it a charming spot to enjoy a coffee. Try the caffè freddo – a cold, sweet coffee that is a little longer than a regular espresso – at one of the high tables with stools, where there’s no service charge.

Now more than a century old, Sciascia is an old-school coffee house in the white-collar neighbourhood of Prati. The burnished wooden panelling, period artwork and vintage machines are all part of the charm and help make this an evocative spot for a caffeine fix. Their signature coffee is a punchy espresso served in a porcelain cup lined with melted dark chocolate.

Opened in 1860, Antico Caffè Greco is the oldest coffee shop in Rome, and the second-oldest in all of Italy. An eclectic mix of writers, artists, intellectuals and freethinkers have frequented this historic bar over the years, including Hans Christian Andersen, Casanova, Keats, Shelley, Mark Twain and Orson Welles – to name a few. The vibe is formal and the prices high, hitting double figures for coffee and a pastry sitting at one of the antique, marble-topped tables. Opt to stand at the bar instead if you want to pay less.

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Offering coffee, cocktails, light lunches, pastries, and even gelato, Andreotti keeps the residents of Ostiense fed and watered from dawn ’til dusk. These days, the decor is bright and modern, but a vintage snapshot of the Andredotti family reveals the historical roots of this family-run pastry shop and cafe. The small cakes and pastries, known as pasticcini, are the perfect accompaniment to coffee and are also available to take away. In fact, an elegantly wrapped tray of pasticcini is the Italians’ gift of choice for dinner parties.

Billing itself as Rome’s first speciality coffee shop, Faro is unlike a typical Italian bar. Customers can sip at leisure in this contemporary space and staff are happy to share knowledge of the coffee production process. Here, roasting is deliberately light and delicate to avoid any bitter notes, meaning skipping sugar is recommended. There’s plenty of choice in both the method of brewing (espresso machine, AeroPress, syphon) and the type of bean – go for the house blend or one of the higher-priced coffees from the specials menu.

Roscioli Caffè is part of the Roscioli-family empire, which includes an upscale restaurant and a speciality bakery with institution-like status in Rome. Thanks to its use of Arabica beans from Torrefazione Giamaica Caffè, an artisanal roaster based in Verona, and its interest in brewing techniques new to Romans – such as pour-over and syphon – this tiny shop has quickly become known for its top-quality coffee. Enjoy with a cream-filled bun known as a maritozzo, a Roman speciality.

Originally the workshop and studio of neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, the Museo Canova-Tadolini is now part-museum, part-restaurant. Elegant tables sit among marble statues, while vintage photographs, newspaper clippings and original documents detailing the atelier’s fascinating past line the walls. Table service is steep, so enjoy a coffee and homemade pastry standing at the bar for a fraction of the price.

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“At first we just wanted a space made of all the things that make us feel good. Then we ended up creating a place where we would love to spend our time and where we would buy everything,” Barbieri and Troia, Materia’s owners, tell Culture Trip about their café, which has become a landmark for students and creatives in the city. Here you can sit surrounded by beautiful design objects (all for sale) and sip a coffee. The space also hosts a variety of events from breakfast concerts to literary talks. And your brain won’t be the only thing to be fed here: “You need to try our apple pie with almond and cinnamon crumble with your coffee – it’s the best!”

Recommended by Linda Massi.

Considered by many to be the oldest bakery in Rome, Pasticceria Regoli is a proper old-school bar and the perfect place to try an authentic Roman-style coffee. This charming little coffee house is still a family-owned venture, as it’s been for the past century. “There’s something so nostalgic about it. It reminds me of Sundays with my family,” says Troia. If you’re still wondering why Italians typically choose a simple espresso, accompany it with a maritozzo, a sugary bun stuffed with whipped cream; it’s a traditional Roman pastry and pairs perfectly with the bitterness of the coffee.

Recommended by Linda Massi.

If you’re seeking a coffee shop with a chic, typically Italian vibe, Bompiani is the place to go. With sleek black-and-white interiors, the scent of fresh coffee in the air and gourmet pastries in glass cases, this venue is the height of sophistication. Don’t be fooled by its appearance though – a coffee and a cornetto (the Italian version of croissants) will come in at a very budget-friendly €2 (£1.70) or less. The cornetto is the star of the show here, with orange zest and bourbon in the dough, and many believe it’s the best in all of Rome. Barbieri agrees: “It’s the place to go for a quick coffee and a pastry. Sometimes that’s all you need to turn your day around!”

Recommended by Linda Massi.

Necci dal 1924 is a second home for coffee lovers in Rome. With modern, stylish interiors and reclaimed wood tables, it only makes sense that it would be set in the ‘Brooklyn of Rome’, Pigneto. Barbieri says visitors should head straight to the outdoor seating area: “Its outside space really makes it. There’s nothing like sipping coffee under a tangle of ivy and fairy lights.” Necci’s signature drink, the caffè pugliese, takes inspiration from southern Italy, mixing iced coffee with almond syrup. With its perfect balance of sweet and bitter, it’s a welcome drink during Rome’s hot summer days.

Recommended by Linda Massi.

Being artisans themselves, the owners of this café and German-style bakery named their business after the patron saints of artisans. The first thing you’ll notice is the different types of bread (usually over 15) lining the walls, and the coffee is just as noteworthy. “The cappuccinos are extra foamy, and the smell of fresh bread makes it oh so cosy,” says Barbieri. Try the typical Italian ‘grandma-style’ breakfast: bread, butter and jam, but served on gourmet raisin-and-cinnamon bread with home-made raspberry compote.

Recommended by Linda Massi.

These food and drink classes will teach you everything you need to know about creating your own authentic Italian food.

This dark, edgy space decorated with mismatched furniture and old-school tattoo-style murals may not be the most obvious place to start your day. Rino Montesacro makes it its mission to be cool in a slightly rebellious way – something it achieves with its vast vinyl collection that’s always playing and it infamous neon sign. Spelling out stronzi (assholes), it’s a tongue-in-cheek piece of decor that’s obviously the most Instagrammable feature of the place. However, Rino Montesacro doesn’t emphasise style over substance. “It’s one of the few places in Rome where you can find drip coffee, so enjoy this slight deviation from your espresso tour,” says Troia.

Recommended by Linda Massi.

Piazza di San Calisto, in the heart of Trastevere, looks like it’s straight from a postcard, with pale-yellow walls, cobbled pavement and clotheslines full of laundry left hanging to dry and fluttering in the breeze. That’s where you’ll find Bar San Calisto, an institution so big in Rome that when it was forced to close for three days in 2018, it made the news. “We love the Calisto as it’s right in the heart of Trastevere and its day-to-day life,” says Barbieri. “It’s such a historical place for Romans – it never gets old.” In the most traditional place of all, there’s only one thing to order – a simple espresso.

Recommended by Linda Massi.

Explore the rest of the city beyond its coffee shops and cafes with these amazing city tours.