Freni e Frizioni

The most amazing bar in Rome (in my small experience) and the time I had there makes it the best I've been to. Freni e Frizioni translates as "Brakes and Clutches"; apparently it used to be an auto shop.

Some friends are in Italy right now, and I wanted to send them to this bar which we found last summer thanks to our trusty little pink book for new money / posers, Wallpaper City Guide: Rome (which actually led us to some cool and cheap eats; the bar's website posts the page from the guide).

We sat on the wall around the little plaza, with me trying to fit in with the very fashionable crowd in my constant attire of t-shirt, shorts, sandals, and backpack. When I got the drinks I noticed a huge buffet of Italian appetizer-like food inside, but was afraid to ask how much it cost. After a trip to the restroom I dared to inquire, timidly approaching an uber-hip bartendress, who looked a bit taken aback as she replied that it was free. Free! Appears that this is how Rome works. Ah, Rome. So I brought some select bounty to the plaza.

Later we headed inside, where the bartender corrected my pronunciation of Caipirinha (the drink, delicious, but all alcohol). The bartenders were rocking out to some South American hip-hop and their drink-making was like a dance. We were so very much intimidated and not at all cool enough to be there. So we thought. But after a heavy buzz set in, who cares? Before we were too drunk to make sitting on the high wall precarious, we set off for dinner to get lost in Trastevere.

n.b. - perhaps a close competitor for best drink I had on the trip, but not best bar, came from the small city of Lecce, in Puglia, the heel on Italy's boot, at Prosit. Some kind of tasty pink melon-infused mojito concoction, if memory serves.

(map pic from google, top pics from flickr)