Martini cocktails, martini bars and martini culture
One of the best feelings of being a serial barcrawler is when you enter into a bar without any particular expectation and you slowly realise that that bar is a gem. The welcome you get from the bartender, the lights, the music, the athmosphere, the accpmpanying food, and of course the drinks. Even better, when …
A Martini in Matino is a Matini? Foscolo is a cocktail bar and a restaurant in Matino, a beautiful tiny village in Salento, Puglia, Italy. If you don't know what Salento is, that is one of the greatest spots in Italy (tip: avoid going in August) with plenty of old villages, great seaside, and all …
Ice cube engraved with the bar logo The Bar Boheme has no cocktail menu, by choice. A very smart and cocktail-educated waiter starts by asking about your tastes and preferences, and designs the cocktail on the spot with you. And the result is simply perfect! On the classics side, things are equally good: I dared …
The Spirits Boutique bar is a small gem in Olbia, on the nort east Sardinian coast. The place is something between a bar and a liquors shop, created by bartender Emilio Rocchino with the idea of becoming a reference for the many bars and restaurants of the nearby Costa Smeralda (or at least for those …
A cocktail bar in Via del Pratello, the students' area in the city with the olderst university in the western world, where beer and wine is normally what you get (and not of the best quality)? Well, yes. The Macondo was a susprise for me too, a bologna former resident (with some experience of the …
This is a special review, and not only because the NO Cafe is a very special bar, where you can sip a classic Martini or any creative cocktail you can imagine in a fantastic medieval square in the centre of Modena, accompanied by lovely tapas mixing classic Emilia flavours with a touch of fusion. No, this …
Life is sometimes bizarre. You travel around for years searching for the perfect mixture between quality of drinks and creativity in making something new, then you end up in a town (Torino in my case) which is surely not known for its cocktail scene, and you find a bar that is probably the most creative …
Common sense suggests that in Verona, as in most of Veneto, what you get in a bar is only Spritz and vino bianco. But common sense is there to be challenged, as a drink at the Amnesya Cafe will prove. This bar, in the very centre of Verona a few steps from the wonderful Piazza delle …
The bar at the Hotel Cala del Porto is not precisely a Martini bar, but if you happen to pass by this wonderful corner of Tuscany, and you feel like having an expensive but perfect rest, this is the place. Not only you'll be able to sip your dring by looking at the wonderful marina of …
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Back in 1952, the famous bartender Giuseppe Cipriani, creator of the Harry's Bar in Venice, convinced his friend Enrico Mariotti to use the name “Harry’s Bar” also for his new bar in Florence. Since then, the bar is the realm of Leo Valdorini, probably the only bartender who was honoured with the Key of the City …
The Martini Hour 