Jerry Thomas Speakeasy
The bartenders at Jerry Thomas Speakeasy take five minutes over an Old Fashioned, made the old way with their own bergamot bitters.
Why go
Roberto Artusio, Leonardo Leuci, Antonio Parlapiano and Alessandro Procoli, four bartenders, opened Rome's first speakeasy in a lane behind Corso Vittorio in 2010. Gambero Rosso wrote in 2023 that since 2010 it has come a long way and become a national and international reference
(Gambero Rosso, 2023). The World's 50 Best Bars put it in its top 50 six times between 2013 and 2019, as high as No. 19 in 2013, and placed it No. 98 in 2025 (The World's 50 Best Bars). Lauren Caramico of Romeing credits it with putting Rome on the map as a drinking destination
(Romeing, 2019). The bar is named for Jerry Thomas, the New Yorker whose 1862 book How to Mix Drinks is still called the bible of bartending (Apron and Sneakers, 2022).
Daniele Amato described the door in 2014: At number 30 Vicolo Cellini there is a small anonymous door with no sign, only a bell marked 'Prof. Jerry Thomas'. You ring, wait for a spyhole to open, and give the password
(Scatti di Gusto, 2014). The password changes, usually comes from Thomas's book and is posted on the bar's website. In 2022 Rowena Dumlao-Giardina found that you had to book, pay 5 euros for a membership card and leave after an hour and fifteen minutes. She also found the room small and smoky, because smoking is allowed inside (Apron and Sneakers, 2022).
The house works from a rule it calls the twist on classic.
In its own words the twist allows you to apply illogical rules and reasoning to the most classic recipes, giving birth to new, possibly better versions
(Apron and Sneakers, 2022). Amato found the menu built on nearly forgotten Italian liqueurs such as maraschino and barolo chinato, alongside bitters made in house. The Improved Aviation is the signature, London dry gin with house lavender syrup, crème de violette, lemon and the bar's own rosehip bitters (Amato, 2014). Darina Coffey of TheTaste.ie drank it in 2017 on a visit guided by Peroni's Simone Corporale: Improved Aviation proved to be a high point.
She was less sure of the Shortbreak, Johnnie Walker Black and Talisker Storm shaken with Kümmel and a sea fennel syrup: a bracing, cheek quivering aniseed-spiked elixir
(TheTaste.ie, 2017). The pizza maker Stefano Callegari ends his nights here: I go to the Jerry Thomas Speakeasy and I enjoy my whiskey sour
(Gambero Rosso International, 2016).
Drinks on the 2022 menu ran from 12 to 20 euros, among them a Mole Negroni on a pechuga mezcal at 18 (Dumlao-Giardina, 2022).
Order this / avoid
- Drink: the Improved Aviation,
a high point
for Darina Coffey (TheTaste.ie, 2017).6 - Drink: the whiskey sour, Stefano Callegari's order (Gambero Rosso International, 2016).7
- Avoid: the Shortbreak if aniseed is not your thing. Coffey called it love-or-hate in 2017.6
What locals & experts say
- Gambero Rosso bar guide (2025):
Rome's institution of classic mixing.
3 - Davide Del Duca, the Roman chef: closed his list of Rome picks with this bar, as Annalisa Zordan reported in 2016.7
Good to know
- Booking: book through the bar's website and look up the current password there before you go.
- Timing: opens late every night and pours into the small hours.
- Not to confuse: the Jerry Thomas Bar Room at Via del Moro 10 in Trastevere is the group's second bar, opened in 2023, with its own menu.
- Where: Vicolo Cellini 30, Parione, behind Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
Verdict
should-visit — Book a slot and find the password for the bar that brought the speakeasy to Rome in 2010 and still reworks the classics behind an unmarked door. In 2022 drinks ran 12 to 20 euros, the room was smoky and a visit was capped at an hour and a quarter.