Step inside and if you listen closely, you can hear it—the clink of glass, the shake of ice, the bursts of laughter, the roar of celebration. It’s a cacophony of cocktails…at one time a Strauss waltz, another a Herrmann score. Even if you wanted to resist it, the pull is too strong.
From the over-the-top opulence of the historic to the sleek and chic of the contemporary, hotel bars are magnetic. They attract out-of-towners and in-towners, haters and lovers, strangers and friends – all sharing secrets and stories over a masterfully made Martini!
This year, in association with Altamura Distilleries, I’ll be exploring some of the world’s most legendary bars—uncovering what makes them the beating heart of the hotel.
Our next stop is Florence!
Four Seasons Florence
Bartolomeo Scala’s motto really should have been Accomodatevi – Please, make yourself comfortable! Of course, I know it was Gradiam—”step-by-step”—literally carved in stone above the door of what was once his home and is now the magnificent Four Seasons Florence.
Gradiam may well have been a clever play on his surname (scala meaning ‘ladder’ in Italian) and his remarkable rise from miller’s son to trusted advisor of Florence’s most powerful ruler, Lorenzo de’ Medici. But today, every inch of the building he designed is an invitation to accomodatevi-no more so than its two bars – the Atrium Bar and Berni’s.
It’s easy to be swept away by the sheer beauty of the Four Seasons Florence. Spanning nearly an entire block between Via Giuseppe Giusti and Piazza Donatello, its scale hints at the grandeur within—yet nothing quite prepares you for the splendor that awaits behind its historic walls.
Like many Italian cities, Florence keeps many of its treasures hidden away behind plain plastered facades and imposing doors. Unless lucky enough to be invited inside, it’s easy to feel left out. Today, the grand doors of the Four Season Florence stand wide open and beckoning you in are not one, not two, but four inspired takes on the city’s most famous cocktail, the Negroni.
One step inside and you are immediately delighted by the first of the many frescos and bas-reliefs that have survived almost 500 years. Many of these are original to Scala’s time here, while others were added by later residents—most notably the della Gherardesca family, who called this place home for more than three centuries starting in the 17th.
It’s hardly surprising that, living at the height of the Renaissance, Bartolomeo Scala fully embraced its ideals—especially the reverence for classical antiquity. When envisioning his own palazzo, he looked to the past for inspiration. His contemporary, scholar Leon Battista Alberti in his De re aedificatoria—On the Art of Building, wrote “in the interior of the villa, the “heart” or “bosom” (“sinum”) of the house, or atrium, is deemed the most important”* He took this idea and ran with it – creating not one, but two atria.
How fitting, then, that I’m now writing a series exploring the bar as the heart of the hotel—and here, the bar bears the fortuitous name of The Atrium Bar.
And what a bar it is.
Only one step away from reception through its always open door, the Atrium Bar welcomes all from dawn to dusk—whether in the need of a morning coffee or something stronger. This year, it’s been nominated for the Oscars of the cocktail world: Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Award for Best International Hotel Bar 2025. Every glass raised is a toast to Head Mixologist Edoardo Sandri and his remarkable team.
A true Florentine, Edoardo joined the team in December 2008, the same year the hotel officially opened. From the moment he walked through the doors, he knew he’d found his place in the world.
It was like a lightning bolt. The open layout, the mirror, the ceiling—I felt at home immediately. I didn’t just want to work here. I knew I had to. There are no walls. There are no doors. Everyone is welcome inside this bar, whether you are a hotel guest or coming from outside, we welcome you and want you to feel at home.
Edoardo Sandri, Head Mixologist, Atrium Bar
Surprisingly, in those early years, it wasn’t always easy to convince locals to step inside. People used to call and ask if they were even allowed to come in for a drink. That all changed with the introduction of Sunday brunch—although an American invention, here at the Atrium Bar it broke down barriers and introduced Fiorentini to a new kind of experience – the hotel bar. Modest though he may be, there’s no doubt the Atrium Bar laid the groundwork for the popularity that hotel bars have now in Florence.
Hotel guests required little persuasion. They were lured in not only by the classics, but also by the bar’s imaginative signature cocktails—reminders of just how innovative a truly great drink can be.
For 2025, the menu’s inventive theme dives into the 19th century, with cocktails that reimagine classics through the lens of the era’s most defining events, figures, and cultural moments.
Of course, an homage to the hometown does not go amiss. Firenze Capitale harks back to the time when Florence served as Italy’s capital for six brief years in the 1800s. A twist on the Americano and Champagne Cocktail, it captures the city’s love of coffee and saffron at that time, combining coffee-infused Italian Mancino Vermouth and house-made saffron water kefir. Amaro Santoni adds a floral note of iris—Florence’s iconic symbol. All served in a glass with a mini model of the Palazzo Vecchio taking pride of place.
Another Italian-themed standout is the Lira, a nod to Italy’s dearly missed historic currency. A touch of the dramatic, a rice paper note shaped like the old coin is set aflame on top of the drink, sending up a mist of herbal smoke. Beneath its cognac base, barrel-aged Amaro Lucano Essenza and Artemisia hint at its inspiration – the Sazerac.
There is also a glamorous spin on the Rob Roy. The Folies Bergère pays tribute to Paris’s legendary dance theatre and its star, Josephine Baker. In a full pirouette, its profile does a 360 —Altamura Vodka takes the lead in place of the usual Scotch. A jeté of banana juice evokes her iconic skirt, while coconut oil adds a creamy glissade. Rinomato Americano White—an Italian aperitivo—is en pointe as a graceful substitute for sweet vermouth. It’s finished with a petit pas de deux: a smoky almond that recalls the peaty depth of the original.
And of course, there are the Negronis—the aforementioned four—each reinterpreted by Edoardo and his team:
- Vintage: Since 2010, Edoardo has been aging these in barrels and stored at -18°C, always served over a pristine clear ice cube.
- Retro:A distillate of Campari—yes, they distill the Campari—removes sugar and dials up the bitterness, balanced with white vermouth, and Plamb, an Italian orange liqueur, then aged in clay for a mineral edge.
- Vanguard: Mezcal and bourbon-aged Campari meet Santa Maria Novella’s Alkermes- a favorite of Scala’s friends, the Medicis, in a smoky, spiced tribute to Florence’s most famous drugstore.
- Futuro: Made with yogurt and rum, this creamy riff proves there’s no limit to how far a Negroni can go.
After a Negroni or two, you might feel the pull of the stone path leading you through one of central Florence’s largest private gardens. There you will be introduced to The Atrium’s casual cousin – Berni’s.
Berni’s is short for Bernardo del Nero, namesake of Palazzo del Nero-now the newest wing of the Four Seasons Florence. Sadly, unlike his neighbor Bartolomeo Scala, Bernardo wasn’t so lucky. He was beheaded after attempting to overthrow the notorious Dominican cleric Savonarola and restore Piero de’ Medici, Lorenzo’s son and sadly known as Piero the Unfortunate, to power in the late 15th century. It’s not quite a political comeback—but it’s certainly a more glamorous ending.
The garden at Berni’s is open year-round, both inside and out, and has an easygoing, casual vibe. The bar team wears khaki jackets and even sneakers. Once again, you can hear Bartolomeo’s battle cry, Accomodatevi!—”Make yourself comfortable.”
This relaxed approach is underscored by Berni’s Bar Manager, Antonello Palermo, a veteran of the Atrium Bar who was brought on to launch this second bar at the Four Seasons, which opened in September 2024. With the debut of Onde Restaurant in the same Palazzo del Nero—its menu inspired by the flavors of the Tuscan coast—Antonello proposed a cocktail program to match. His vision? Drinks rooted in the history, herbs, and ingredients of Tuscany’s seven islands: Elba, Giglio, Giannutri, Capraia, Pianosa, Montecristo, and Gorgona.
It’s your first experience at the hotel. When you check in you are asked, “Would you like a drink while you’re waiting? That’s going to be from the bar. You might not go to the restaurant, you might not go to the spa, but for sure you’re gonna have a least a coffee at the bar. It’s a place you pass by at least once.
Antonello Palermo, Bar Manager, Berni’s Bar
Vermouth became central to Antonello’s philosophy. “Vermouth isn’t a formal spirit—it’s meant to be shared with food, during aperitivo, like in Spain,” he explained. “So we designed the bar to have that same light.”
One of the most popular drinks on the menu is The Elba, inspired by the island’s storied past. Napoleon was exiled there, and it’s known for its chestnut honey (which may have inspired his use of the bee as a royal symbol), apple orchards, and the many minerals that made it famous, like tourmaline and hematite. Antonello’s riff on a French 75 brings all of that together: chestnut honey, apple juice, and Altamura Vodka are combined with a white vermouth from Mugello, then topped with Champagne and finished with a green apple foam.
It’s one of the few originals that’s carried over onto the 2025 menu, which now features cocktails inspired by all nine of Italy’s major islands—including Sardinia and Pantelleria in Sicily.
A favorite on the original menu was the Capraia, named after the goats (capra) that once roamed the island. Capraia is the only volcanic island of the Tuscan nine. Wild mirto (myrtle) plant runs rampant and is used to make a local liqueur. A smoky take on the Negroni: mezcal replaces gin, mirto liqueur for Campari, Cocchi Dopo Teatro—fortified with Barolo Chinato—adds richness as the vermouth. Lest we forget the island’s most important denizens, it is all clarified with goat yogurt for a silky texture and a touch of salinity, then finished with a mist of basil, also found on the island.
On the new menu, we head down Puglia. A reinterpretation of the Capraia cocktail, the Tremiti pays homage to the bishops who were sent to the islands before ascending to cardinalship. It’s not much of a leap to clock this as a twist on the classic Cardinale – traditionally a mix of gin, Campari, and dry vermouth.
On the Tremiti Islands, it wasn’t goats but sheep doing the roaming, so naturally, this version is clarified with sheep’s yogurt instead. The bitter bite comes courtesy of Cynar, a nod to the wild artichokes growing across the island, rounded out with vermouth from Puglia. Oregano—a native herb of the Tremiti—is used to garnish the cocktail, the heady aroma whisks you straight to the sun-soaked heel of Italy with a single sniff.
So yes—Bartolomeo was right with his Gradiam—step by step, his palazzo has been transformed into the Four Seasons Florence, one of the most dazzling hotels in the world. But it’s the spirit of Accomodatevi that makes the bars the true heart of the hotel. They’re where guests become regulars, locals rediscover their own city, and cocktails transport you from the streets of Florence to the shores of Elba in a single sip—no packing required.
Atrium Bar is the beating heart of the property — it welcomes and envelops guests from the moment they arrive, offering a menu that blends local flavors with an international twist to create a sense of comfort and belonging. Bar Berni, by contrast, is a niche retreat: a sun-kissed hideaway nestled in our lush garden — a true oasis in the heart of the city that comes alive during aperitivo hour with live music. Together, they play distinct roles in the hotel experience. Atrium Bar sets the tone — lively, inclusive, and vibrant — while Bar Berni invites a slower rhythm, perfect for unwinding, reconnecting, or easing into dinner in a relaxed, green setting. With both, the goal is to make guests feel not just welcomed, but truly at home, wherever they are on their journey.
Max Musto, General Manager
Whether you’re settled into the Atrium Bar with a perfectly aged Negroni or lounging under the trees at Berni’s with something breezy and botanical, your hosts have only one request: Accomodatevi.
*Public and Private in the Writings of Leon Battista Alberti by Anne-Marie Sorrenti
