33 Giri Listening Bar

33 Giri Listening Bar occupies a small room on a quiet street in Borgo Pio, with seating for only a modest crowd. It is built around listening: a DJ plays exclusively on vinyl, pulling from a large record collection, and the sound runs through a high-fidelity system at a volume nobody lowers. Natural wines and refined bites are served to match whatever is on the turntable, so the drinks, the food and the records form one experience. The people who come tend to be audiophiles, who give the music the same weight as the menu.

People who live in Rome treat a reservation as the first step, since the room is small and its seats are claimed quickly. Once inside, go for the natural wines with the bites designed to accompany them, because that pairing, set against the records, is what the evening is built around. Treat the music as the main act rather than something playing behind the conversation: it all comes off vinyl, the DJ chooses each record from a deep collection, and the high-fidelity sound system is never turned down for anyone.