La Botticella sits on Via di Tor Millina, a narrow lane a block west of Piazza Navona, and it is the official Pittsburgh Steelers bar in Italy. Giovanni Poggi opened it in 1991, and the black and gold on the walls has outlasted most of the American pubs that came after. This is a small room with a big screen and a long memory.
The pull is sport from two continents. Staff put NFL, college football and rugby on the big screen alongside the European calendar, and the bar fills for Steelers games in a way no other Rome pub matches, per travel writer Paul Passingthrough's account of a game night here. Tripadvisor reviewers keep calling it the best American sports bar in the city.
The room is tight and wood-lined, the kind of pub where the corner stool becomes a regular's seat. Cityseeker describes the place as a snug, beer-focused bar near the Pantheon rather than a sprawling sports hall, and that scale is the charm. On a packed NFL Sunday the crowd spills toward the door, so an early arrival earns a view of the screen.
What to order is one of the 8 Italian craft beers on tap, a deeper draught line than most pubs in the centre keep. The bar also stocks hard-to-find liquors, Italian wines and cocktails, so a table can drift from a session beer to a digestivo without leaving. Ask the bartender which tap is pouring freshest that week.
The crowd is a mix of homesick Americans, rugby fans and curious Romans who came for the beer and stayed for the game. The Steelers identity gives the place a loyal core, and on a big NFL night the room turns into a small slice of Pittsburgh a short walk from the Pantheon.
Who is it for. NFL and college football fans who want a guaranteed screen near Piazza Navona, craft beer drinkers after a real tap list in the centro storico, and travellers who prefer a snug local to a tourist hall. Skip it if you need a big table for a large group, since the room is small.
Best time to go is an NFL Sunday or a Six Nations weekend, when the bar leans fully into its sporting identity. Weekday afternoons from the 2pm open are quieter, better for a slow beer and a chat with the bar than for a marquee match.
Getting here folds into a centro storico evening. The pub is a five-minute walk from Piazza Navona and close to the bus stops at Corso del Rinascimento, deep in the lanes between the Pantheon and the river. Pair it with a wander through the streets around Navona before or after the game.
For the wider field, our guide to the best sports bars in Rome sets this Steelers room against the bigger Irish halls, and the city Rome bar guide maps where to drink around Piazza Navona. Match-day planners should read our pillar on the best bars for watching the game in Rome, and travellers comparing cities can scan the global sports bars collection.
Sources: La Botticella official site, botticellapub.com (2026); Tripadvisor La Botticella reviews; Yelp La Botticella Roma listing; paulpassingthrough.com La Botticella Steelers bar feature; Cityseeker La Botticella, Rome.
