Hop(e) Springs Eternal: Craft Beer and Brewing in Rome
Rome has always been a wine city, hydrating itself on wines blending local Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes, but in the past couple of decades, beer has become more than just an afterthought. Industrial lagers still dominate, of course, and locals have long washed down pizza with a cold Peroni; a Peroni plant in the Salario district is now home to MACRO, Rome’s contemporary art museum, a fitting reimagining of a space once dedicated to thirst and now devoted to culture.
But something changed in the early 2000s. Rome’s beer awakening began not in a brewery but in a tiny bar on a cobbled Trastevere alley. When Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà (roughly “What Did You Even Come Here For?” in Roman dialect) opened in 2001, the city’s beer culture was nearly nonexistent, save for a bunch of faux Irish pubs. Romans were suspicious of anything other than the usual lager-and-pizza combo, and the idea of ordering a small-batch Belgian sour or obscure Franconian lager was laughable. But the bar’s mission—to serve the best beer in the world—slowly won people over. It became a haven for beer nerds, curious tourists, and eventually, skeptical locals who started to believe beer could be interesting.
By the early 2010s, craft beer had taken root in Italy. National pioneers like Baladin (from Piedmont), Birra del Borgo (from Lazio), and Toccalmatto (from Emilia-Romagna) helped redefine what beer could be, and Rome, ever the consumer capital, was suddenly pouring more of it than any other city in the country. That energy gave rise to a homegrown brewing scene, and soon, Romans were drinking good beer and making it, too.
Ritual Lab, founded in 2015 in Formello, 30 kilometers northwest of the city, quickly earned a reputation for precision and polish. Their beers are thoughtful and technically dialed-in, with stouts, pale ales, and pilsners that demonstrate both restraint and creativity. You’re as likely to find their cans at a Roman bottle shop as you are at a beer competition abroad, where they regularly pick up awards for flavor and balance.
In 2016, Jungle Juice took things in a louder direction. Tucked into Mandrione, a postindustrial pocket among the aqueducts, this brewery is all haze and hops, churning out juicy New England–style IPAs (called NEIPAs), sours, IPAs, and crowd-pleasing experimental beers from a garage-like warehouse. Their look is punk, their beer is playful, and their ethos is pure Roman DIY. From 6:00 p.m. nightly, their taproom serves hopheads gathering over glasses of whatever new batch just dropped.
A year later, Rebel’s emerged on the Via Ardeatina, throwing itself into the scene with bold, expressive beers and irreverent design. Their IPAs and pale ales hit hard and fast, winning over a young crowd hungry for something fresher, cooler, more international. Rebel’s helped cement Rome’s place as a hub for modern beer culture—one where American influences are filtered through a Roman lens and poured with swagger.
Today, Rome’s craft beer establishments stretch across the city, from serious beer bars like Artisan in San Lorenzo and Birra Più in Pigneto to bottle shops like Johnny’s Off License in San Giovanni and Centro. What started as a niche obsession has turned into a legitimate drinking culture. Sure, wine will always reign supreme at the trattoria, but these days, it’s not unheard of to find a Rome-brewed saison or sour alongside the Cesanese.
And maybe that’s what makes Rome’s beer scene so compelling. It’s not trying to replace tradition, its adding to it. In a city known for clinging to the past, these brewers are building something new: a fresh layer of drinking culture that sits comfortably alongside aperitivo hour and bottles of Lazio wine.