Rome gay street
LGBTQ travel guide: Rome
When most people reflect of Rome, they think of the religious customs and traditions most closely related to the city rather than Gay Rome explore. Despite being more conservative than many other Italian cities, Rome comprises a rich and diverse culture that includes a thriving lgbtq+ scene. There has been a large variety of same-sex attracted bars, events, and clubs popping up in and around the city recently, some of which rival the finest gay scenes in Europe.
Gay Rome neighbourhoods
Italy as a whole is rather gradual when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms. Still, despite being the capital, Rome is lagging behind a little because of its conservative and religious background. With this in thought, consider keeping general displays of tenderness to the bare minimum when outside of the same-sex attracted spaces in the city.
Gay Street
The first stop for many gay tourists heading to Rome will be Gay Avenue (otherwise known as Via di San Giovanni in Laterano). You’ll find Homosexual Street directly antonym the Colosseum, and although it isn’t entirely geared towards the gay scene, as the entitle might suggest, there are numerous famous gay bars along this street. The bar cro
Rome opens ‘Gay Street’ after kissing flap
Rome marked the opening of its first “Gay Street” with flags, banners and protests amid a row over a gay couple who claimed they were detained by police for kissing near the Colosseum.
Campaigners welcomed a 325-yard zone in the center of the city — filled with shops and bars — as an area where gays can “feel at ease,” after days of heated debate in predominantly Roman Catholic Italy over the kissing incident.
The two men were detained briefly last week for what the police said were lewd acts in widespread — a crime that can carry a sentence of up to two years in jail.
“This will be an area where people can feel at ease, and it is also meant to be a bridge between the citizens and the gay community,” activist Fabrizio Marrazzo, the Rome leader of Italy’s Arcigay gay rights movement, said Friday.
Police said the two were not just kissing and would hold behaved the same way if it had been a heterosexual couple.
Right-wingers have protested the Town Hall’s decision to close the area to traffic for three nights a week through Sept. 8.
“Nobody wants to condemn those who practice a different sexuality, but to dedicate a stree
Like most Italian cities, the Rome gay scene is petite; particularly since there are not many queer bars in Rome. When I first came here in 2017, there were just the two staple bars on the lgbtq+ street next to the Colosseum: Coming Out and My Bar.
But in recent years, the gay Rome bars have started to take off in popularity, and they are not all centered around the Colosseum (although close enough to the city center).
On top of it, unlike in other European countries, Rome's gay bars often double as trattorias or place to get an aperitivo, but that is quintessential Italians for you, who are serious about combining alcohol intake with long, leisurely dinners 🤌.
The best advice is to come early for dinner or aperitivo and abandon late to head to some of Rome's queer clubs or gay parties.
So let's explore the everlasting city's best gay bars!
As this article focuses mainly on Rome gay bars, check out our Queer Guide to Rome, end with other clubs and parites you should travel in the Eternal City.
Best Gay Bars in Rome
We will keep this section relatively short, since we will go into details on each bar below. However, our favorite same-sex attracted bars in Rome inclu
Rome Gay Travel Mentor 2025
Upcoming Events in Rome
Accommodation Tip
iQ Hotel Roma
Hotel. ****, from 150 €
Reviews, Photos & Reservation
Modern hotel in contemporary style, situated in the center of Rome, next to the opera. Well maintained and with gym room, sauna, washer/dryer and vending machines.
@ Via Firenze 8
Rome 00184
Metro: Repubblica, Termini
About Rome and its gay life
Rome is a controversial place for gay men. Keep in mind your gay fantasies when you watched those movies with Roman soldiers and gladiators? See the whole world admiring the sculptures of gorgeous men by gay artists in Rome's museums? Capital of Italy, a big, free and democratic country? Don't expect too much from all that regarding the male lover scene. Be it for reasons of mentality or because of the influence of the Vatican, Rome has by far not the open and colourful queer life as other capitals in Europe.
But the situation has started to modify with new generations of more expose and self-confident male lover men and women. This is especially evident at the big annual Pride manifestation in June and at the LGBT festivals in the summer. And, of course, there are also some g