What a joy it was to be sipping a Sgroppino in La Serenissima in the middle of December. How lucky was I when two of my favorite things in the world collided – Venice and cocktails! That week in December, dedicated to the inaugural Venice Cocktail Week, allowed me the opportunity to really deep dive into this Italian city’s vibrant bar scene.
Even if it only had Harry’s Bar, home of the Bellini, Venice would be one of the most famous cities in cocktail history. Lucky for us who venture there often, Venice has always had plenty of other drinking establishments. Most of them were secreted away in the wondrous palazzo hotels that sit along the Grand Canal: the Gritti, The Bauer, The Danieli, and the Monaco & Grand Canal. These have most recently been joined by the Aman and the St. Regis Venice. Further afield (or should I say further a campo) on the neighboring island of Giudecca, sit the bars at the Cipriani Hotel and the Mulino Stucky.
Now these grand dames have been joined by stand-alone cocktail bars that are too good not to miss: Palazzo Experimental (Dorsoduro) Time Social Bar (Canareggio) and Il Mercante (San Polo) are just a few of many.
Venice Cocktail Week is the brainchild of Paola Mencarelli, with the support of the Aman Venice. You may recognize Paola as the organizer of Florence Cocktail Week, which has been running for the past five years. To Venice, she brought her concept “to unite the hotel bars, cocktail bars and historic cafés to showcase their cocktail creations promoting responsible drinking culture.”
She reached out to famed architect Piero Lissoni to create the divine logo. His few painterly strokes produced a martini glass accented by a gondola’s ferro at its side.
Each of the participating cocktail bars had to invent four different drinks: a signature cocktail, a winter cocktail (hot), a twist on a spritz, and a drink made with only Italian ingredients. My goal was to take a sip of as many as I could.
Day 1 of Venice Cocktail Week
On each and every trip to Venice, I drop my bags and head to Harry’s. Thank goodness, I was saying at the Baglioni Hotel Luna, literally around the corner from Harry’s Bar. There I was able to partake of the aforementioned Bellini, with a Pasta e Fagioli chaser.
Ready to take on Venice Cocktail Week, I ran off to attend my first master class given by Anthony Poncier of the Top 500 Bars. We had shared a taxi in from the airport and I was keen to know how the ranking system worked. The class was being held at the Palazzo Experimental, whose signature cocktail, The Melting Pot, created by owners Lorenzo Di Cola and Guillaume Pinaut, was the perfect accompaniment to an hour with Anthony.
Later that evening, we were treated to Antonio Carraro’s fantastic cocktail creations at the Aman Hotel in the Palazzo Papadopoli for the official opening party of Venice Cocktail Week.The event ended early in the evening, so we could take advantage of the “Night Shifts” (guest bartenders from all over Italy and Europe) that were taking place in several bars around the city.
Paola invited me to join a few others as we traversed Venice’s canals on her skiff, the Bloody Mary. (There was a vaporetto strike and we were the only ones on the Grand Canal – a true once in a lifetime thrill!)
First stop was Il Mercante, where guest Giulia Castellucci from Co.So in Rome was joining the bartender Anna Garuti for the evening. It was packed, so we sat accanto the largest church in Venice, the Santa Maria dei Frari. One cocktail later, it was time to head out to the Night Shift at the Palazzo Experimental, where Benjamin Cavagna from 1930 Cocktail Bar in Milan was working wonders. After settling in there for a sip or two, I headed back to my cushy bed at the Baglioni.
Day 2 of Venice Cocktail Week
No one really wakes up early when participating in a cocktail week. So a leisurely post-morning / pre-lunch walk around Venice was the order of the day. After a plate of Paccheri with Scampi and Shrimp “alla Busara” at one of the best restaurants in Venice, Antiche Carampane, I was ready to take on more cocktails.
It was back to Palazzo Experimental again for a session with the Master of the Amaro and author of The Great Book of the Italian Amaro, Matteo Zed from The Court in Rome. How amazing to hear all about Amari from the man who wrote the book! We chatted after and spent the late afternoon trying every Amari on hand.
The Bloody Mary arrived to transport me over water to our next stop, the art gallery Lunardelli Venezia, We were invited to the launch of their “Me and You” drinking glasses, just one of the many gorgeous objets d’art that their team of artists create to “express Venice’s soul in all of its facets.” Lino Marchese of the Blue Bar in the Hotel Excelsior at the Lido was shaking up his Excelsior Ruby to celebrate the launch, a cocktail made with both Select and Campari, as well as Gin dei Sospiri, another of Venice’s local spirits.
It was then off to the Danieli Hotel, splendidly decorated for the Christmas holiday, I don’t think any other room in Venice or the world could have looked as festive. Select was hosting the evening’s guest shift with Edoardo Sandri of the Atrium Bar of the Four Seasons in Florence. I was also lucky to bump into my friend and former Lush Lifer, Rudi Carraro, Brand Ambassador of Select, as well as Amaro Montenegro.
Next stop was over the Rialto Bridge to the secluded Hotel L’Orologio, where Benjamin Cavagna popped in to join Simone Covan from the Santa Cocktail Club in Florence to sling cocktails made with Ginarte, an Italian gin from the Italian wine-making region of Chianti.
Second to last stop for the night was the Terrazza Aperol in Campo Santo Stefano, where the world-renowned bartender Nico de Soto was personally overseeing production of my Truffle Martini.
That night I finished the evening at the gem of a bar, the Bar Longhi, in the Gritti Palace, which was my father’s favorite bar and the one place I always ended my nights in Venice when traveling with my parents. The terrace is fantastic with its up close and personal view of Santa Maria della Salute. Although the terrace was closed, there is almost no bar in the world that means as much to me as this tiny bar in such a glorious hotel.
Day 3 of Venice Cocktail Week
My last day in Venice, or so I thought, I met several of the other journalists for lunch after a short visit to see the Excess Hotel in a part of Dorsoduro I had never explored.
I meandered back to the Baglioni to meet the Head Bartender, Lello, and begin the cocktail hour with his Leali 2018, a refreshing spritz with Select, Prosecco and Pineapple. It geared me up for the “Venice in a Glass” Tour I had booked, which took us to all the historical cocktail hot spots from Caffè Florian to Harry’s Bar.
On my return, I dipped into Tarnowska’s American Bar, where artist Roberto De Feo was presenting his body of work. Every day during lockdown, he created and photographed a different cocktail. Posting these on his instagram, he and his cocktail journey have become a sensation and helped him survive the bleak months that he had alone in his apartment.
That evening, I headed up to Cannaregio to the wonderful Time Social Bar which was being hosted by Marco Vian of Gin dei Sospiri. After dinner at the Palazzina G hotel, where we had a Blind Tasting Experience by RobyMarton Gin, I ended the evening with my friend Facundo Gallegos, Bar Manager of the St. Regis.
He was sharing bartending duties with Danilo Lanteri from Shape Cocktail Bar in the tiny town of Cerca. Not only were we privy to Danilo’s signature cocktails, but Facundo took us on a tour of the Arts Bar’s new menu, an unending bevvy of fabulous cocktail delights.
Day 4 of Venice Cocktail Week (thanks to BA!)
Unbeknownst to me, until I returned to my room, British Airways had canceled my flight. This left me with one more day to enjoy Venice Cocktail Week. I was able to spend the next afternoon sampling aperitivi from I Rusteghi restaurant and cocktails by Campari with Paola et alia on her lovely terrace.
After which, I lazily walked to the Giardini wandering the back streets of the Castello sestiere, then ending up in the historic Quadri Bar in Saint Mark’s Square. Walter Bolzonella, the legend who heads up the Bar Gabbiano at the famed Cipriani on Giudecca, was stirring up his Tocco Veneziano and several other tequila cocktails while recounting tales of his time behind one of the most famous bars in Venice.
After all this cocktail hedonism, I must admit that it was a treat to head up the Grand Canal on the local vaporetto to my new home for the evening, the Hotel Carlton, for a restful night of doing nothing. As fate would have it, I was reacquainted with Enrico Fiorentino, the gorgeous barman who had worked at the Gritti so many years before. He joined me while I had dinner, a scrumptious plate of lobster spaghetti, and wouldn’t let me leave the table without a proper Sgroppino! What a perfect way to end my Venice Cocktail Week experience.
Cheers to Venice Cocktail Week
Thanks so much to everyone at the Venice Cocktail Week for treating me to such a wonderful few days in Venice! I couldn’t have been treated as well at both the Baglioni Hotel Luna and The Hotel Carlton on the Grand Canal.