Bar Far Lets You Drink Inside a Roman Art Installation of Limbs

 

If drinking at a standard cocktail bar feels too inside the box, Rome’s temporary art installation and boozy pop-up, Bar Far, will tear that box apart. The latest creative brainchild by life-and-art partners—sculptor Clementine Keith-Roach and painter Christopher Page—this Roman ruins-inspired cultural space draws from lionized watering holes of the past: Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire, London’s Colony Room, and Rome’s very own Caffè Greco.

Set within Villa Lontana, a new nonprofit space founded by Vittoria Bonifati in Trastevere, Bar Far — which echoes Villa Lontana’s name, “Faraway Villa” — acts as a kind of christening for the venue, one that blurs the lines between ancient worlds and new.

A neon-red sign glows at the entrance, each letter spaced like its own small tombstone. It feels like dropping into a Guillermo del Toro set inside — it’s all limbs. Keith-Roach’s sculpted reliefs are her signature, and here, anatomical parts turn functional: benches balance on open palms, thighs and calves prop up tabletops, and hands extend from the walls as candleholders. In one wall piece titled “A Storm is Blowing from Heaven,” hands clasp and graze each other’s wrists in a continuous loop. Then, there are Page’s paintings. A molten wash of reddish-orange, like hellfire smoke, brightens up the gray plaster. Church or tomb, subversive or sacred, Bar Far leaves that interpretation up to you.

During opening hours, patrons can sip vermouth-forward drinks, while drifting between the occasional poetry reading and live music performance — with appearances from poet Florence Uniacke, artist and soprano Nyla van Ingen, musician Lukas De Clerck, and more.

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Located at Via Garibaldi 68/69 in Rome, Bar Far is open Wednesday to Saturday from 3 pm-9 pm or by appointment until March 14, 2026. Discover more from Villa Lontana online and on Instagram.