🌎 👣 🍷 Cinque Terre – 5 Towns and So Many Choices 🌎 👣 🍷

 

This is one of those posts that is in no way meant to be all-encompassing or “the best of the best.” But this is the best of the wine, cocktails and cocktail places we found in our marvelous three days in Cinque Terre, a region on the Ligurian coast of Italy that literally means “five towns.” But for the purposes of sharing what we enjoyed we’re adding a sixth town that had a little more nightlife.

Some general thoughts on Cinque Terre:

1.       Local wine is fantastic and very inexpensive – 2 or 3 euros for a glass or about 15 euros for a bottle

2.       If you get the chance, try the cones of fried seafood. You’ll thank us.

3.       Even if you don’t hike between the towns, be ready to walk everywhere

4.       The train is an easy way to get to all five towns in a day

The five towns that make up Cinque Terre are each small and charming in their own way, each has a main square and at least one main street with shops and restaurants, and all but one has a harbor or dock with access to the sea (and lots of fresh seafood!) We would highly recommend a sunset cruise with a local captain – including local wine, of course. All the towns have places to get great local wine! But not all of them have places you can get a cocktail after dark.

That’s why we are including La Spezia. It’s a fairly metropolitan city just outside the Cinque Terre with a respectable cocktail scene!  We’ll start there. La Spezia is a port city with a central train station which makes it a great “home base” to explore the area. It’s also home to one of the largest navy bases in Italy. So there are plenty of places to get a drink (or three).

We first stopped at Doria – a cool little wine bar with a small indoor seating area underground but plenty of tables on the side street, including a window bar space where we enjoyed a couple of very nice charcuterie boards and local wine as well as a cocktail. This was popular with the locals, but less crowded than some of the spots we saw. Definitely a #tipsypick.

Just down the street, J Gatsby is a very metropolitan cocktail bar with an expansive patio area – perfect for enjoying a great cocktail and wine. They even had several inventive bourbon cocktails on their menu, which at the time was themed around Tarantino movies! That definitely caught our attention given the fact that the director is from Knoxville.

You know we are fans of local breweries, so we took a detour #offthetipsypath to find the La Spezia Brewing Company … and we’re very glad we did! It’s a small operation with a lineup of tasty brews that hit the spot for us! Check them out!

And we rounded out our night at Eclettica Cocktail Lab - a cocktail bar that with a vibe that was trying to be a little bit of everything – the drink menus were found inside plastic CD containers!  It was definitely another locals hangout, which makes it all the more appealing. The drinks were excellent. Another #tipsypick if you are in La Spezia!

Bottom line, we definitely could have spent more than one night exploring the scene here.

In Cinque Terre itself, of the five towns within the UNESCO borders, we chose to stay in Riomaggiore. On our first night, we had excellent food at Bar Centrale in the heart of town and cocktails (and local wine) with a great patio view overlooking the town at Old School! They are on one of the streets above the town, so it’s a nice walk!

On our last day, we had one of the best meals of our trip at Rio Bistrot! This upscale spot overlooks the harbor. The food was excellent – mostly local seafood paired with local wines, including some “Vin Santo” – a sweet dessert wine served with sponge cake.

Elsewhere, we did some hiking and took the trains to see all five towns. We had a nice lunch in the middle of Vernazza at Osteria il Baretto that included an excellent Limoncello Spritz and a view of the tiny Chapel of Santa Marta. In Corniglia, we enjoyed some local wines and bites with a view of the sea at La Scuna.

But the #tipsypick for the other towns would have to be watching the sunset at Nessun Dorma in Manarola. This outdoor patio establishment overlooks the town and the harbor facing the west, making for a spectacular sunset experience every evening. They do book up fairly quickly, so plan accordingly, but do plan for it!

Cinque Terre was one of our bucket list destinations, so we are happy to be able to share some of our #tipsypicks!

🛥️🍷🍾 Venice – Cocktails and Canals Around Every Corner 🛥️🍷🍾

 

The best advice we read as we were preparing for our trip to Venice was to go #offthetipsypath and “just let yourself get lost” So we did!  And what we found in the maze of alleys and plazas (or campos) were lovely neighborhoods full of shops, restaurants, and of course wine and cocktail bars.

We learned new terms like “aperitivo” and “cicchetti.”  The first is a term that means “pre-meal drink,” kind of like a happy hour (which we love) but in Italy, it’s an entire experience of getting ready for a meal. It usually includes small appetizers and wine or spritz – sparkling prosecco mixed with an aperitif liquor. In Venice, the appetizers are called cicchetti, and we made more than one entire meal out of them!

We also learned pretty quickly how to tell a tourist from a local in Venice just by looking at what they were drinking. One of our tour guides pointed out that the orange drinks were mostly Aperol Spritz, which is said to be the “official” drink of Venice. However, she also pointed to the darker red drinks, noting that most locals drink Select Spritz. So from then on, that was our aperitivo of choice in Venice. The difference is that Aperol is sweeter, while Select is a little more bitter, which pairs well with the prosecco. Both are garnished with olives. You can’t get much more Italian than that!

On our recent visit, we stayed in the Cannaregio neighborhood, which is north of the Grand Canal. It was a great home base to explore the entire city but also get away from the highly tourist areas. We found several spots that we kept coming back to for their food, drinks and service. That includes a great little kiosk selling snacks, wine and spritzes into the wee hours called Chioschetto TiroVino. And yes, that means you can get drinks to go on the street!

Our favorite place was also closest to our hotel. El Sbarlefo bills itself as a cicchetteria featuring great wine, food and music. We agree! This was a perfect example of a neighborhood spot with a wide variety of cicchetti and fantastic local wine. (Hint: we always ordered a “house” red or white or sparkling wine – inexpensive, local and delicious every time) The staff was welcoming and friendly – and patient with us! Definitely a #tipsypick!

It's safe to say that wine is everywhere in Italy, but a good wine bar can elevate the experience, especially if they have good cocktails too! That’s why we fell in love with Retro Wine Bar – the drinks (a fantastic Manhattan among them), the wine, the décor and the jazz soundtrack combined to make this a fantastic experience each time we went. They also had a menu of small bites to complete a date night. A #tipsypick for sure!

It’s hard to beat the experience of sipping wine next to one of the famous canals in Venice. That’s what Vino Vero offers – along with a knowledgeable staff who can help you navigate all their selections by the drink or by the bottle. This is definitely a locals’ spot, but we found some fellow Americans hanging around each time as well. They also have some cicchetti to complete the experience. We could have spent a few more evenings here!

And just across the canal, the #tipsyhubs got his fill of good craft beer at Il Santo Bevitore, a craft beer bar that was also definitely a locals’ hangout. If we lived here, we would be regulars too! A #tipsypick if you want a break from wine during your visit to Venice.

There are some “must do” cocktail spots in Venice, with Harry’s on the top of the list. This classic restaurant and cocktail bar just off St. Mark’s Square is in fact where the bellini was invented, and they still crank out hundreds of these tasty peach drinks every day. If you just show up, you may have to stand at or around the small bar area. It was good enough for the likes of Hemingway and Hepburn. We still managed to get two seats at the bar the night we went, and it was totally worth it.

Another one on the “must try” list is Il Mercante. It’s a bit of a walk from where we stayed, but the reward was fantastic classic cocktails at a bar that’s been around since 1870. We sat on the upstairs mezzanine at the suggestion of the host. Maybe we were missing a taste of home, but we tried a pulled pork old fashioned that turned out to be delicious. The cicchetti was also top notch. It was a great way to top off a fantastic adventure!

The bottom line for us – while we came to Venice with a list of places we thought we “had” to try, we found just as much joy in checking out the local places that aren’t usually on any list but offer wonderful food, wine and friendships. And the difference between Aperol and Select for a true Venetian aperitivo!

 

🍷 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!