Trastevere. San Calisto Bar, Rome you can’t help but love it

San Calisto Bar. I’ve been coming to this bar for years with my family on trips to rome and recently visited with my wife – it hasn’t changed!

For sure the cheapest bottle of Peroni you can get in Rome and a brilliant atmosphere – a real range of people from students to the local italian middle aged to tourists.

Mit yndlingssted i Rom, Trastevere. Bar San Calisto.Dette skønne værtshus har ikk ændret sig siden 1960’erne. Det er tilholdssted for de lokale i alle aldersgrupper og for turister. Stedet er velkendt for lave priser og varm atmosfære.

Daytime…

Jeg har besøgt det på alle tider af døgnet. Klokken 7 kommer de lokale, skraldemænd og kontorfolk og får kaffe. Op ad dagen kommer der flere lokale i en modne alder. Så begynder turisterne at kigge indenfor og hen på eftermiddagen til ud på natten bliver det mere og mere intenst.

Min ven Rani

Jeg elsker at sidder og iagttage livet fra en plads ved bordet med en kop kaffe eller en Peroni – en halv liter for 2 uro serveret ved bordet. Den går ikke andre steder i Rom.

Stedet er berømmet for deres egen is. Jeg fik en formiddag den ære at blive vist rundt af ejeren – en flittig midaldrende mand, som næsten altid er på baren. Han var stolt over produkterne – og med god grund. Deres kaffe er fin og Peroniøllet er køligt. Der er en fantastisk atmosfære og mange af stamgæsterne er farverige personer, f.eks. Rani og min romerske veninde, hvis navn jeg har glemt – men det varme menneske er i mit hjerte.

Toilettet – der er ét – er ikke det mest oplivende og du skal være kvik på ødderne for at holde øren lukket imens…

Ejeren og min veninde

Tucked away in one of the many winding streets of Trastevere, San Calisto is truly a Roman landmark. Open everyday except for Sunday, San Calisto is always bustling. With an interior room, and tables set outside, it’s the perfect bar, offering something for everyone (pastries, ice cream, granitas, beer, and cocktails).
You can go in the mornings for your breakfast, but my favorite time to go is for an aperitivo around 18:00. Being a very popular spot in Trastevere, it can be hard to find seating, but standing in and around the piazza that houses San Calisto is always an option, one that many people do in fact choose.
Perhaps the low low prices are what bring people to San Calisto at first (€ 2.50 for a large Peroni), but the ‘scene’ is what keeps people coming back. Since the outdoor tables are placed so close to one another, making friends is sort of obligatory. Not to mention it is just a popular spot for friends to meet to either start their nights, or end them.

San Calisto is in one of the most visited areas of Rome, but every time I go there I feel as if I am transported into a small neighborhood spot, where all I want to do is grab a drink and chat with the people around me. It’s definitely the place to go if you want to sample some of the local Roman scene.

My roman girlfriend

Bar San Calisto is not your genteel, overpriced-cocktail, table-service bar. In the morning, it is perfect for a quick and delicious cappuccino and you will find yourself waiting for your coffee with all of the street cleaners and other city workers in their orange suits. In the afternoon it’s perfect for a gelato or a beer. In the evening it is grab-your-own-table, hoard-chairs-for-your-friends, send-one-person-in-to-order-all-the-beers MADNESS. This is easily the most popular bar in Trastevere. It has extensive outdoor seating (and truly very little indoor) and it still spills out into the square. All the drinks are inexpensive (you can get a small Peroni for under 2 euro, and a champagne split is 2 or 3 euro) and you just never know who you’ll meet there. The bathroom is disgusting, and there’s only one. If you can…just hold it.

And don’t forgbet: Try a sgroppino (a lemon sorbet doused in vodka), an affogato (ice cream literally ‘drowned’ in liquor) or the chocolate ice cream – unofficially heralded as the best in the city.

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