92 Best Bars in Italy

With an impressive menu of signature cocktails, wines, and beers, this is a great spot to enjoy a drink in Cefalù. They serve an excellent antipasto plate as well as casual fast food like hot dogs, burgers, and nachos. If you love craft beer, you will find the best selection of local beers around.

The cool chrome furnishings at Kestè contrast with the old arched ceiling inside, but try to get a table out in the beautiful square in front of the Orientale University, and mingle with the city's students. A DJ spins tunes, and there's live music on the tiny stage on weekends.

Choose from indoor or outdoor seating and take advantage of the great list of wines by the glass. At aperitivo time €12 will buy you a truly tasty cocktail and give you access to the tremendous buffet; it's so good, you won't need dinner afterward—in fact, they called it "Apericena." That means, roughly, drink and dinner.

The Tiffany-blue hut by the ferry ticket office at the far end of Spiaggia Grande is a refreshingly no-frills spot for a granita or snack by day, or late-night cocktail or bottle of Peroni beer. Expect a friendly and unpretentious crowd where local fishermen mix with young visitors who congregate in and around the harbor seats into the evening.  

A particularly quiet and refined option in Chiaia is L'ebbrezza di Noè, which is both a stand-up bar and a sit-down eatery.

Come evening, things heat up at this bar and pasticceria (pastry shop) where a local pianist tickles the ivories and summer sees DJ jams on the leafy terrace.

At Le Stanze you can sip an aperitivo or a late-night drink amid a young and noisy clientele. The incredibly grand decor includes 17th-century frescoes in what was once the private chapel of the Palazzo Bentivoglio. The adjoining restaurant offers a small selection of Bologna favorites.

This beautiful club is located right on the beach and is open throughout the year. If you're not into clubbing, it's also a perfect spot to just sit and enjoy a cocktail or aperitif at sunset. It's especially popular in the summer when it's filled with locals and live music. They also have an alfresco restaurant.

Affectionately shortened to “Makke” by Romans, this tiny pub can’t contain the number of beer lovers who flock here at all hours to indulge in a craft pint, or three. Patrons spill out onto the sidewalk behind Piazza Trilussa, sipping the carefully selected artisan brews that arrive from around the world.

The owners of the restaurants Chez Black and Le Terrazze run this popular bar/club (est.1972), which occasionally hosts live music. Set in a seaside cave off Spiaggia Grande, it's a grinning, cheese-fest of pop tunes, day-glo lighting, and loungey nooks frequented by a lot of twentysomething visitors, a few middle-age locals, and the occasional celebrity (think Lenny Kravitz, Kate Moss, and Denzel Washington). Special events aside, entrance is free.

A beautiful café and contemporary art gallery, Nea is a highly atmospheric spot to just hang out on student-filled Piazza Bellini, especially in fine weather at the tables outside or on the steps of the gorgeous university library.

Just down the street from the Accademia, Oliandolo is a perfect place to have a light lunch.

Here you'll find a great selection of cheeses and cured meats, wines by the glass, food products to take home (like powdered porcini mushrooms), daily specials, as well as some tasty food served in situ.

The Laurin Bar hosts jazz combos on Friday between October and May and a jazz pianist every Saturday evening. In summer, the bar moves outside to the pretty garden, where a DJ spins tunes on Thursday night.

The Quadrilatero Romano, which roughly corresponds to the grid pattern of Roman Turin near Piazza della Repubblica, is a hopping area filled with nightclubs and international restaurants. Places open and close with startling frequency here, but Pastis has shown considerable staying power.

At Pitti Gola you can order tasty tidbits to accompany your choices from the extensive and impressive wine list. The outdoor seats have a view of Palazzo Pitti.

For live music, bowling, or just a slice of pizza, this long-standing establishment has been a fixture for generations of Alghero's youth. The music is mainly jazz, blues, and rock, while a range of beers and cocktails are served as well as pizza cooked in a wood oven and dispensed by the meter. 

A trendy, artsy clientele frequents this bar at aperitivo time. By 10 pm, the place is packed with mostly young folks sipping artful cocktails.

By day a clothing store and bar, this favorite with trend-setters becomes a late-night haunt after dark.

The full name is "Rivendita: Libri Teatro e Cioccolata" and that's exactly what you'll find in this charming hole-in-the-wall: books and chocolate. Open only in the evenings, the used-bookstore-bar combo offers wine, sweet cocktails, or coffee served in cups of pure chocolate.

S'move is something between a bar and a club, filling around midnight with a young crowd that wears its clothes with the designer labels showing.

Immensely popular with the twenty- and thirtysomething crowd, who belly up to the bar for pizza, crepes, and excellent German-style draft beer, this pub is also a good place to watch televised soccer.

Via Cisterna dell'Olio hosts the tiny but agreeably funky Superfly, with classic jazz on the speakers and a huge collage of punters' favorite albums lining the wall.