Close to Torino, Casa Martini is the museum of Martini & Rossi, with great historical pieces, artwork, and memorabilia. You can take a tour of the factory, which is the only place where all the Martini vermouth sold globally is produced! And, after the museum and the factory tour, you can attend a cocktail training …
Foscolo Bar, Matino
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 …
Bar Boheme Mixology, Catania
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 …
Quiz: are you a Martini expert?
Casa Mago, Torino, Italy
Casa Mago, the cocktail lounge of the Michelin-starred Mago Rabin restaurant in Torino, is simply one of the best cocktail spots in town. The place is small and cozily elegant, with a few confortable tables and a great atmosphere. The cocktail menu, inspired by the concept of Origami (that you can actually create by using …
Slippbarinn, Reykjavik, Iceland
When searching for a Martini bar in the northern capital of the world, a place where you can get booze only in special liquor stores, I opted for what seems to be the oldest cocktail bar in town (which actually is not even 10 years old...). The Slippbarinn is located on the ground floor of the …
Spirits Botique, Olbia, Italy
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 …
Macondo, Bologna, Italy
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 …
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock, the Hollywood film director and producer, enjoyed Martini cocktails, and liked these very dry, with just “one short glance at a bottle of vermouth”. I could not find more information on Martini drinking habits of Hitch: can anybody help?
Clark Gable
Clark Gable also liked Martinis, actually he is the Hollywood character connected to the Martini Dry in the great book Cocktail of the Movies (highly recommended). In order to make them really dry, James Gannon, the newspaperman Clark Gable played in Teacher’s Pet, moisten the cork of a bottle of vermouth and then runs it around the …