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Monti, Rome: Vintage Shops & Wine Bars
The streets, shops and wine bars worth your afternoon in Monti — Via Urbana, Via del Boschetto, and where to drink on Piazza della Madonna dei Monti.
By Todo Rome · Published 2025-01-01
This is a guide to spending an afternoon and evening in Monti — the streets to walk, the shops worth going into, and where to drink when you're done. For the wider picture of the district, how to get there and whether to base yourself in it, see our Monti neighbourhood guide.
Ancient and Elegant in the Same Block
Monti is Rome's oldest rione (district) by name — it takes in what was once the Suburra, the ancient city's densest and roughest neighbourhood, reputedly Julius Caesar's childhood home turf. None of that history is visible on the surface today; what you'll find instead is narrow cobbled streets, independent boutiques, and a settled, unhurried elegance that most first-time visitors never discover because it sits five minutes from the Colosseum and gets bypassed entirely.
Shopping
Via del Boschetto and Via Urbana are Monti's spine for browsing — vintage clothing shops, small jewellery ateliers, and independent designers rather than chains. This is the neighbourhood for a slow, unstructured wander with no particular purchase in mind; half the appeal is the shopfronts themselves.
Where to Eat and Drink
Urbana 47 sources from small Italian producers for a relaxed, design-forward menu that changes with the seasons — one of the better mid-range dinners in the city, and a serious natural wine list. Ai Tre Scalini, a wine bar so small the crowd spills onto the cobblestones most evenings, pours a house-infused mirtillo (blueberry) liqueur that's become a minor neighbourhood institution — order it standing up, with a plate of cheese, the way everyone else does.
What's Underfoot
The Domus Aurea, Nero's vast and famously excessive palace complex, is buried beneath the Colle Oppio park at Monti's edge — occasional guided tours (often with virtual-reality reconstructions of the original decor) go underground into the ruins. Check current opening status before planning around it; conservation works mean it opens and closes on a rolling schedule.
Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's four papal basilicas, sits at Monti's southeastern edge with 5th-century mosaics that predate almost everything else standing in the city.
Getting There
Cavour station on Metro Line B drops you in the middle of Monti. It's also an easy fifteen-minute walk from the Colosseum or ten minutes from Termini — genuinely one of the most centrally located neighbourhoods in Rome, which makes its relative quiet all the more surprising.
Best Time to Visit
Early evening, when the boutiques are still open but the aperitivo crowd hasn't yet spilled onto the streets — the hour or two where Monti feels most like itself.