🍷 Florence – Wine Windows and More 🍷

 

Have you ever heard of a wine window?  It’s exactly what it sounds like … and we visited one in Florence, Italy.

First, a few overall impressions of the cocktail scene in Florence:

• Florence is fairly compact and definitely walkable, which makes for a safe and easy cocktail tour
• Art is everywhere! No boring scenery here.
• Surprisingly, after a night of cocktails there aren’t many places to grab a late-night bite to sober up

No more suspense… let’s talk about wine windows – or “buchetta del vino” in Italian! These are small windows that were invented in the Middle Ages to allow people to pass wine and other items from inside establishments to people in the streets without direct contact (you know, that whole Black Plague thing) and as a way for thirsty patrons to avoid paying taxes to fill their personal bottles. Fast forward to 2020 and our own pandemic – some of these windows in Florence began operating again! We visited one at a bar called Babae in a neighborhood across the river from the tourist area. It was pretty simple – ring the bell, order the wine, wine gets passed and we drank in the street. Definitely one of the most unique experiences of our trip. The wine was excellent too!

Just like in Verona, Florence has a beautiful mountaintop park called Piazzale Michelangelo where you can enjoy wine or a cocktail and see the sunset. It’s a bit of a hike if you choose to walk (which we did) but totally worth it! Many people bring their own libations to the park and there are several vendors to grab some. But we chose the terrace at a lovely restaurant called La Loggia to enjoy our sunset cocktails. It’s hard to take a bad photo in Italy, but this evening was particularly spectacular. No matter how you choose to enjoy it, this view is definitely a #tipsypick.

One of the most unique cocktail bars we’ve maybe ever visited is here in Florence. The Arts Inn started as an art gallery, but the owner needed income to allow artists to have space at low or no cost – so The Arts Inn was born! The space is intimate and filled with little cozy spaces for some excellent cocktails and wine! The bartender took the time to talk to us about the concept and if you ask nicely you can climb the staircase to see the artist studio upstairs. We highly recommend this as a #tipsypick for Florence!

We enjoy tracking the World’s Top 50 Bars list and have been able to visit some in places like New York and Miami. We were pleasantly surprised to find a cocktail bar in Florence on the list this year! So you know we had to visit Locale Firenze! The décor is upscale modern and the cocktail menu was fairly extensive. They found out we were celebrating our wedding anniversary (well, we told them) and they offered us some complimentary nibbles – with a sparkler - and shots as well. The signature cocktails and wine were excellent!

We love a good speakeasy, and Rasputin did not disappoint us! As you might expect for a bar named for a mad Russian monk, the décor is moody and classic (right down to the animal skull and candles) … and we were led down a dark staircase to the underground space. They had jazz music playing softly (always a winner in our book) and we enjoyed the craft cocktails. This is definitely a date night place and a #tipsypick.

We think Florence is an excellent place for “home base” for further adventures into the Tuscan countryside, so we’ll definitely be back!  Up next, Venice!

🍷 One Night in Verona – a Surprising Cocktail Adventure 🍷

For the first time since the pandemic lockdown, we had the opportunity recently to travel internationally for 10 days in Italy. We’ll save our thoughts on Venice, Florence and Cinque Terre for upcoming posts. But we’ll start with one of the most surprising stops on our #tipsytrek … Verona!

First, a couple of overall observations on drinking in Italy – 

1. Almost everyone we met speaks English

2. Aperitivo hour is definitely a thing, as it should be!  

3. Lots of great local wines, but bourbon selections can be hard to come by

We had booked one night in Verona for our wedding anniversary for the romance and we did all the tourist things – Juliet’s balcony and the Arena (which in itself is very cool) but then at night we ventured out to find what turned out to be one of the best cocktail scenes of our entire visit!

We began with a trip across the river and up the mountainside to the Castel San Pietro. We rode up and back on the funicular – a cable car that provides great views of downtown Verona both ways. While the castle itself was closed, we had a glass of wine and enjoyed the sunset at La Funicolare cafe.  We highly recommend making this part of your itinerary for Verona!

Since we don’t like to begin a cocktail crawl on an empty stomach, our next stop was to a bistro and cocktail bar appropriately named Romeo (it is Verona, after all). We really enjoyed the cocktails, and we learned quickly on this trip that you can’t go wrong just ordering a glass of house wine – red, white or sparkling! The board was excellent as well, made up of local meats and cheeses like we found almost every night.

But this is where the evening started getting interesting!  Our waiter invited us to check out the cocktail bar upstairs which didn’t open until later, but he was happy to show off the area behind an unmarked door. The bar area was beautiful, and the rest of the floor was laid out like an intimate speakeasy. He invited us to come back later!  But we were off to our next stop to see where the night would take us.

Our next stop was The White Monkey. Since it was a Monday night, we had the bar almost to ourselves, which allowed us to chat with the bartenders and staff and learn more about the Verona bar scene. We told them we like bourbon drinks, especially a good Old Fashioned, and they served us their own twist on one, along with local prosecco! We had also never had shots of real Italian Amaro before … until then! The guys asked us where we’d been and where we were headed … apparently, we were on the right track.  They even recommended a stop along the way to the next place on our list. White Monkey is definitely a #tipsypick!

On good recommendation, we stopped next at Archivio, which turned out to be an excellent little local cocktail bar. They served a very tasty Manhattan and more local prosecco. They even make their own vermouth, which they sell in limited quantities in the U.S. We will be on the lookout here in the states.

And finally, we made our way to our first real speakeasy in Verona. The Soda Jerk is an inconspicuous door with a buzzer that leads to a dark and intimate space that was pretty crowded for a Monday night – obviously a local favorite! We managed to get a table for two close to the bar where we could watch the activity. We had another excellent Old Fashioned and more local prosecco.

In all, Verona was very warm and welcoming, both day and night. We definitely could have stayed more than one night and found more adventures here. The staff at the bars all seemed to support each other, which made our visit even more special. 

Tipsy picks for Verona: 

• Romeo Bistrot

• White Monkey

• Archivio 

• Soda Jerk

Stay tuned for more of our Italian adventure!