Rome | Freni e Frizioni

Freni e Frizioni was the cool destination for summer nights in Rome this year, and still is as the nights themselves get cooler. Beautiful people spill out in droves onto the piazza and occupy every available public perch within shouting distance of the neatest cocktail bar in Trastevere. If you’re looking for a quiet drink, look elsewhere; if you’re after the best – and by no means the most expensive – mojito in town, Freni e Frizioni is your spot.

Stocked with every alcoholic beverage you’ve ever heard of, it’s retro-stylish on the inside (though often so packed you can only see the ceiling lights) with a palpable mechanical theme borrowed from the auto workshop which occupied the premises in times past – hence the name which translates as ‘brakes and clutches’. Other diverse objets d’art scatterered about are actually just that: contemporary works on show.

A lively team of young, professional mixologists and someone pretty skilled in the kitchen look after all the rest: a menu of spirits as long as both arms, all the hottest cocktails, wines and beers and legendary aperitivi from 7 to 10 every evening. At Freni e Frizioni, they like to quote some well-known dipsomaniacs, like…

I drink to make other people more interesting

Ernest Hemingway