- 1st century AD Age of our top-pick cellar
- 3–6 Wines per tasting
- 1–2 hrs Seated tasting length
- 18:00–21:00 Rome’s aperitivo hour
- 3 DOCGs Lazio’s top-ranked wines
Why a Cellar Tasting Is the Best Way to Drink Italian Wine in Rome Without Leaving the City
The tasting we recommend first — and when a Trastevere wine bar will do the job for less.
Rome is not a vineyard city, which is exactly why a seated tasting beats wandering into wine bars: the wines on a Roman list come from twenty regions, the labels give little away, and a bar will pour you a glass without telling you why it matters. A good tasting fixes both problems in an hour. The one we recommend first happens underground in Trastevere, in a cellar restored from a 1st-century Roman cistern, where a host opens prosecco and then two to four Italian wines beside cheeses and cured meats from Slow Food producers. It is a wine-focused tasting, not a food tour that happens to pour wine, and that distinction is the one to check on every listing. You can pick the number of wines when you book, and it finishes early enough to walk straight out to dinner. If you already know Italian wine and simply want a good glass, skip the booking and order by the glass at Enoteca Ferrara two streets away.
Highlights
- Wine poured underground in Cantina Fabullus, a 1st-century AD Roman cistern beneath an 18th-century building
- Choose your flight: prosecco plus one white and one red, or two of each, or four wines on the De Luxe option
- Cheeses, prosciutto, pistachio mortadella and buffalo mozzarella from Slow Food Presidia producers
- A host who explains each wine and pairing, in a room furnished with antiques rather than a hotel bar
- About 75 minutes, a short walk from Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere
What's Included
- Italian wines selected by the house sommelier, starting with prosecco
- Fresh and aged cheeses, cured meats, buffalo ricotta, vegetables in oil and three kinds of olives
- Three breads, extra virgin olive oil, Roman-style pizza, honey and jams
- Dessert, water or soft drinks
- Alternatives on request for dietary needs — say so when you book
Check Availability & Prices
Pick your date and wine option below. Instant confirmation, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
The Trastevere Cellar Tasting, Step by Step: 1 Cistern, Up to 5 Wines, 1 Long Board
From the red canopy on Via dell’Arco di San Calisto down into Cantina Fabullus — what happens between the first prosecco and the dessert.
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Ring the bell under the red canopy
The tasting starts at the Residenza San Calisto, Via dell’Arco di San Calisto 19/20, a two-minute walk from Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. Look for the red canopy over the door and ring the bell. Arrive five minutes early: Trastevere’s lanes are easy to misjudge after dark.
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Go down into a 2,000-year-old cistern
Cantina Fabullus sits beneath an 18th-century building in a space restored from a 1st-century AD Roman cistern, its vault lined with bottles and furnished with antiques. The temperature underground stays steady year-round, which is why the room works as well in August as in January.
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Start with prosecco, then work through your flight
The host opens prosecco and then pours the flight you booked: one white and one red on the Fabullus option, two whites and two reds on the Classic, or four wines, three of them red, on the De Luxe. Each wine is introduced — where it is from, what grape, what to notice — before you taste.
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Pair each glass with the Slow Food board
The food is chosen to match the wines: fresh and aged cheeses with honey and jams, prosciutto, pistachio mortadella, buffalo mozzarella and ricotta, vegetables in oil, three olives, three breads and Roman-style pizza, from small producers in the Slow Food Presidia. It is generous, but it is a tasting, not dinner.
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Finish with dessert and walk out into Trastevere
A dessert closes the tasting after about 75 minutes. You come up into Trastevere at the start of the evening, with Enoteca Ferrara and the trattorie around Piazza Trilussa a few minutes away if you want one more glass or a proper meal.
What a Rome Wine Tasting Looks Like
A Roman cistern in Trastevere, a cave under Monte Testaccio, a sommelier’s table in Prati. Scroll or drag to browse.
Choosing a Rome Wine Tasting: Seated or Walking, How Many Wines, Who Pours, Where
Cellar tasting, sommelier class, candlelit cave or food walk in Trastevere — the four questions that sort them.
A tasting sits; a food tour walks
Seated tastings last one to two hours and are built around the wine. Food tours with wine walk four or five stops over three or four hours and pour two or three glasses beside ten or more food tastings. Pick the first to learn something about Italian wine, the second if you want dinner and a neighbourhood.
Three is a taste; five or six is a lesson
Three wines — usually a white, a red and a sparkling — is enough to compare styles. Five or six, as on the VinoRoma class or the deluxe cellar flight, is where you start to notice regions and grapes. Two glasses with a lot of food is a pairing, not a tasting; check the number before the price.
A sommelier explains; a guide serves
On the dedicated tastings a sommelier or the owner introduces each wine and why it suits the food. On food tours the guide is a food expert and the wine is part of the meal. Both are fine; they are different evenings, and the listing’s inclusions say which one you are buying.
The room is half the reason to book
Rome’s best tastings use rooms you could not walk into alone: a Roman cistern in Trastevere, the caves under Monte Testaccio, a candlelit tufa cellar in Pigneto. If the setting matters, compare our underground cellar tastings side by side.
Rome Wine Tastings Compared: Wines Poured, Food, Length and Price
Trastevere, Testaccio, Prati, Monti and Pigneto — what each pours, what it serves and whether it is a tasting or a food walk.
| Tasting | Format | Wines | Food | Length | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food tasting with wine pairing Fabullus cellar, Trastevere |
Seated cellar tasting | Prosecco + 2–4 wines, by option | Cheeses, cured meats, Slow Food products | ~75 min | $65 |
| Trastevere wine tasting with gelato Cooking Italy |
Seated pairing | 2 wines | 10 Italian products, then gelato | 1.5–3.5 h | $36 |
| Underground cave wine tasting Taste’Accio, Testaccio |
Seated cave tasting | 4 Lazio wines | Cured meat and cave-aged cheese board | 1 h | $60 |
| Guided Italian wine tasting VinoRoma, Prati |
Sommelier class, max 6 | 6 wines from across Italy | Taralli crackers | 2 h | $89 |
| Speakeasy wine and food tasting Cabaret Voltaire, Monti |
Seated tasting, max 6 | 3 wines | 3 food samples | 1.5 h | $33 |
| Wine by candlelight in a Roman cave Pigneto |
Candlelit cave dinner | 3 wines | Light dinner with pasta and dessert | 2.5 h | $128 |
| Trastevere food tour with wine Carpe Diem Tours |
Walking food tour | Local wine, beer or alcohol-free | 10+ tastings incl. pasta dinner | 3 h | $95 |
Short version: book the Fabullus cellar tasting for the best mix of setting, wine and price; the VinoRoma class if you want six wines explained properly; the Testaccio cave if you want Lazio wine in a cave under an ancient hill. Prices are the per-person “from” figures GetYourGuide showed on 15 October 2026 and change with the option and date.
What Guests Say About the Trastevere Cellar Tasting
Four verbatim reviews of the food tasting with wine pairing at Cantina Fabullus.
“The location was amazing Intimate setting Our host was delightful The presentation of the cheese was sensational And the wines … delicious”Julianne · Australia · September 2025
“We had a WONDERFUL experience. We learned so much about the various dishes and wines of Rome. Our guide was absolutely AMAZING!!! She provided us with tons of information and allowed us time to really taste the food with the wine!! We would def be going back and recommending family/friends to try it.”Tamara · United States · June 2024
“The experience was fantastic, Lorenzo is an asset to your team. He was excellent, informative and very attentive.”Tracy · United Kingdom · November 2024
“Excellent! Very good demonstration of the wines and we were very satisfied with the experience.”Nieves · United States · December 2024
Reviews are quoted verbatim from GetYourGuide. The rating reflects 115 verified reviews as of October 2026. We earn a commission if you book through the links on this page, which does not change your price.
Other Rome Wine Tastings: Cheaper, More Wines, a Cave, or a Walk With Dinner
Three seated tastings and one food walk that pours wine — pick by budget, the number of wines or how much of the evening you want. Still torn? Our ranking of the best wine tastings in Rome compares seven side by side.
Seated pairing · Trastevere
Two wines, ten Italian products and a gelato to finish
A wine bar tasting in Trastevere built around food: two Italian wines beside ten tastings that include 30-year aged balsamic, pesto Genovese, Asiago and buffalo mozzarella, then a walk for gelato. Strictly it is a pairing rather than a wine lesson — only two wines are poured.
Choose this if you want the cheapest well-reviewed option and care more about the food than the number of wines.
★ 4.9 · 300+ reviews · From $36 · Cooking Italy Check dates & prices
Seated cave tasting · Testaccio
Four Lazio wines in a cave under Monte Testaccio
An hour in the caves dug into Monte Testaccio, the hill made from broken Roman olive-oil jars: four regional wines from Lazio — reviewers list sparkling, white, rosé and red — with cured meats and cheeses aged in the cave. Capped at ten guests.
Choose this if you want to taste wines from the region around Rome rather than the famous northern names.
★ 4.7 · 58 reviews · From $60 · Slow Travel Check dates & prices
Sommelier class · Prati
Six wines from across Italy, explained properly
VinoRoma’s two-hour class in a private tasting room near the Vatican: six styles of Italian wine, a map of the regions and grapes to take away, and a host who teaches you how to describe what you like. Food is limited to taralli crackers. Six guests at most.
Choose this if you want to come away knowing more about Italian wine, not just having drunk some.
★ 4.7 · 16 reviews · From $89 · VinoRoma Wine Studio Check dates & prices
Food walk with wine · Jewish Quarter
Campo de’ Fiori and the Jewish Quarter by night
A four-hour evening walk from the Turtle Fountain in Piazza Mattei through the Jewish Quarter and Campo de’ Fiori: up to 15 food samples at seven eateries, with wine, beer and soft drinks. This is a food tour that includes wine, and it replaces dinner.
Choose this if you would rather walk and eat your way through an evening than sit for a structured flight.
★ 4.9 · 200+ reviews · From $99 · Food Raphael Tours and Events Check dates & pricesKnow Before You Go: Prices, Neighbourhoods, What You Will Drink and When to Book
What a tasting costs against a wine bar, where in Rome to taste, which wines turn up, and the age and dietary limits — checked 15 October 2026.
What a tasting costs, and what a wine bar costs
Seated tastings on GetYourGuide start at about $33 for three wines and three bites in Monti and run to $89 for six wines with a sommelier in Prati; candlelit cave dinners and restaurant pairings reach $128–162. A glass in a good Roman wine bar is roughly €5–12, so three glasses on your own cost less than the cheapest tasting — what the booking buys is the explanation, the food pairing and a room you could not otherwise enter. The full price bands, and what you get for each, are in our Rome wine tasting prices guide.
Where in Rome to taste
Trastevere has the most choice: the Fabullus cellar, the Cooking Italy pairing, and the wine bars around Piazza Trilussa — our Trastevere wine tasting guide compares every format there. Testaccio, south of the Aventine by the Piramide metro, has the caves dug into Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill of an estimated 53 million broken Roman amphorae. Monti, the neighbourhood just north of the Colosseum, suits a short tasting between sights, and Prati works before or after the Vatican Museums. If the setting is the point, start with our underground cellar tastings.
What you will drink
Rome sits in Lazio, which makes mostly white wine: Frascati, from the hills about 20 km south-east of the centre, was among Italy’s first classified wines in 1966, and Cesanese is the native red worth asking for. Lazio-focused tastings, such as the Testaccio cave, pour those. Most others lead with the famous northern names — Barolo, Brunello, Amarone — plus a prosecco to start. Our guide to the best Italian wines to try in Rome explains what to look for, and the wine and cheese tastings page covers the pairing-led options, from Pecorino Romano to cave-aged sheep’s cheese.
Timing, age limits and diets
Most tastings run in the late afternoon or early evening, which fits Rome’s aperitivo hour of roughly 18:00–21:00 and leaves time for a late dinner — our evening wine tours guide covers the food-and-wine walks that replace dinner instead. Cellars and caves are indoors, so tastings are one of the few Roman plans that a wet November evening does not spoil; the winter guide picks the warmest rooms. Age rules vary by venue: the Trastevere cellar tasting does not take children under 7 and its six-wine flight is for 16 and over, while the Testaccio caves pour soft drinks for minors. Vegans, wheelchair users and people with diabetes are listed as unsuitable for the Fabullus tasting, so check the listing before you book. First time at a tasting? Read what to expect — and if you want the room to yourselves, see private wine tastings in Rome.
Want vineyards instead? Everything on this site happens inside Rome. If you want to walk between vines, a winery day trip to Frascati, the Castelli Romani or Tuscany is a different, half-day or full-day outing — worth it if you have the time, but not something to squeeze into an evening.
A morning at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, an evening walk through Trastevere, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, or a half-day wine trip to Frascati in the Castelli Romani — four things worth pairing with a Rome wine tasting if your days have room.
Rome Wine Tasting Tours: Frequently Asked Questions
Worth it, what it costs, how many wines, tasting or food tour, where to go, what Rome drinks and who can join.
Is a wine tasting in Rome worth it?
For most visitors, yes, if you pick a seated tasting rather than a bar crawl. For roughly $35–90 you get three to six Italian wines explained by someone who knows them, a board of cheeses and cured meats, and a setting you would not find alone, such as a cellar built from a 1st-century Roman cistern in Trastevere. If you already know Italian wine and just want a good glass, a wine bar such as Enoteca Ferrara will do the job for less.
How much does a wine tasting in Rome cost?
Seated tastings on GetYourGuide run from about $33 for three wines and three bites in a Monti speakeasy to $89 for a six-wine sommelier class in Prati, and $128–162 for candlelit or restaurant formats with a meal. Food tours that include wine sit around $80–100. Prices were checked on 15 October 2026 and move with the option and date you pick.
How many wines do you taste on a Rome wine tasting?
Three to six is normal. The Trastevere cellar tasting pours prosecco plus two to four wines depending on the option, the Testaccio cave tasting pours four Lazio wines, and the VinoRoma class pours six from across Italy. Food tours that include wine usually pour two or three glasses alongside the food rather than a structured flight.
What is the difference between a wine tasting and a food tour with wine?
A wine tasting is seated, lasts one to two hours and is built around the wines: each one is introduced, and the food is there to pair with it. A food tour walks between four or five stops over three to four hours, serves ten or more food tastings and pours wine with them. Choose the tasting to learn about wine; choose the food tour if dinner and the neighbourhood matter more.
Which neighbourhood in Rome is best for wine tasting?
Trastevere has the most choice, including the Fabullus cellar and the busiest wine bars. Testaccio has the caves dug into Monte Testaccio, the hill made of ancient olive-oil jars. Monti, a short walk from the Colosseum, suits a tasting between sights, and Prati works before or after the Vatican Museums.
Do I need to leave Rome to taste wine?
No. Every tasting on this site happens inside the city, in cellars, caves and wine bars, and pours wines from Lazio, Tuscany, Piedmont and the Veneto. You only need a day trip if you want to see vineyards — Frascati and the Castelli Romani hills are about 20 km south-east of the centre, and that is a different, half-day outing.
What wine is Rome known for?
Rome sits in Lazio, a region that makes mostly white wine. Its best-known wine is Frascati, a white made mainly from Malvasia and one of Italy's first classified wines (DOC in 1966). The native red to look for is Cesanese, which became Lazio's first DOCG as Cesanese del Piglio in 2008. Most tastings also pour famous names from further north, such as Barolo, Brunello or Amarone.
Can children or non-drinkers join a wine tasting in Rome?
It depends on the venue. The Testaccio cave tastings serve minors a soft drink instead of wine, the Trastevere cellar tasting does not accept children under 7, and the six-wine guided flight in the same cellar is for 16 and over. Non-drinkers are usually better served by a food tour, where alcohol-free options are common.
The Guides Behind the Recommendations
Longer answers to the questions this page could only summarise.
- Best wine tastings in RomeSeven experiences worth booking, ranked, with what each pours and serves.
- Trastevere wine tastingCellars, wine bars and food walks in Rome’s most popular wine neighbourhood.
- Underground wine tastingsA Roman cistern, the caves under Monte Testaccio and a candlelit tufa cellar compared.
- Wine and cheese tastingsPecorino, buffalo mozzarella and cave-aged cheeses with the wines that suit them.
- Private wine tastingsWhat a private tasting costs, and when a small group is the better buy.
- Evening food and wine toursNight walks through Trastevere and the Jewish Quarter that replace dinner.
- Rome wine tasting pricesBudget, mid-range and premium tastings, and what a wine bar costs instead.
- Italian wines to try in RomeFrascati, Cesanese and the northern classics, and which tastings pour them.
- Wine tasting for beginnersWhat happens, how to taste, and which format suits a first-timer.
- Wine tasting in winterWarm cellars and candlelit caves for November to February.