Rocco Forte Hotels has launched 'Italy Grand Tour by the Glass' Experience

Four cocktails and four destinations, explored one glass at a time. These are the ingredients of “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass”, a journey through the places, personalities and traditions that have made the Italian art of drinking famous around the world.

Photo credit: Rocco Forte Hotels

For the first time, a journey with Rocco Forte Hotels unfolds from behind the bar, tracing the cocktails that have shaped the culture and identity of four Italian cities. The drinks featured in “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass” share a common thread: each was born from the personalisation of an existing cocktail, reflecting the Italian tradition of tailoring drinks to guests' tastes and fostering conversation and conviviality at the bar.

• Florence and the Negroni, born from a request to personalise an Americano;

• Rome and the Cardinale, often described as “a Negroni in a dinner jacket”, owing to the elegance achieved by replacing sweet red vermouth with dry vermouth;

• Palermo and the contemporary Palermo-Torino, born from the symbolic meeting of two iconic products: vermouth from Turin and Sicilian wine;

• Milan and the evolution of the Americano, itself a forerunner of the Negroni, whose story continues today with the Americanello.

“Italy Grand Tour by the Glass” begins in Florence, home to the most cosmopolitan of Italian cocktails. Just a short walk from Hotel Savoy lies Via della Spada, where, at the historic Caffè Casoni in the early twentieth century, replacing soda water with gin in an Americano unwittingly gave rise to one of the world's most celebrated cocktails. The twist was requested by the flamboyant Count Camillo Negroni, who wanted to personalise the most important ritual of his day.

The addition lent the Florentine aperitivo a bold, unmistakable character, whose lively spirit lives on today in a tribute served at Bar Artemisia, featuring five interpretations of the cocktail:

• Truffle Negroni: a tribute to Tuscan flavours, enhanced by prized local truffle;

• Negroni Toscano: a reinterpretation of the classic that celebrates the region through the exclusive use of locally produced spirits;

• Negroni Svegliato: a celebrated coffee-infused twist created by Salvatore Calabrese, also available in a Vintage version;

• Bachelor Negroni: an alcohol-free interpretation that retains the cocktail's signature flavours;

• Vintage Negroni: crafted using rare vintage spirits.

Photo credit: Rocco Forte Hotels

While the Negroni brings bold, distinctive notes to Florence, in Rome “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass” celebrates the dialogue between two capitals of European dolce vita. The bond between Rome and Paris finds its signature cocktail in the Cardinale.

Its origins, never fully established, remain suspended between the two European capitals, telling a story of elegance, encounters and mutual influence, later reflected in the twinning of the two cities in 1956. Raising a glass of Cardinale evokes this shared cultural heritage and the atmosphere of the dolce vita, when cinema, fashion, art and high society came together to shape a way of life whose allure continues to endure.

Today, seventy years after Rome and Paris were twinned, a stroll along Via Margutta reveals the contemporary places that continue to inspire international artists, filmmakers and intellectuals, with recommendations from The Maptique. The route through the heart of the Eternal City leads to Bar Stravinskij at Hotel de Russie, where Salvatore Calabrese's interpretation of the Cardinale becomes a symbol of the meeting between Rome and Paris, two capitals united by a shared history of elegance, culture and art de vivre. When “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass” reaches Palermo, the story of mixology becomes intertwined with that of Italian entrepreneurship through Marsala wine and the Florio family.

First produced in the late eighteenth century following the vision of the English merchant John Woodhouse, Sicily's fortified wine has become one of the most recognisable expressions of Italian winemaking excellence. Its international reputation owes much to the Florios, the entrepreneurial family whose ventures, residences and adventures take centre stage in “Sulle Tracce dei Florio” (“In the Footsteps of the Florios”), a themed itinerary created exclusively by Essence of Sicily for guests of Villa Igiea. It is here, in the iconic Belle Époque residence commissioned by the Florio family, that Salvatore Calabrese surprises guests at Igiea Terrazza Bar by introducing Florio Marsala into the "Milano-Torino". The result is the "Palermo-Torino", a new cocktail that pays tribute to the destination while telling its story through flavour.

Photo credit: Rocco Forte Hotels

While the "Palermo-Torino" brings together the Sicily of the Florios and Piedmont's vermouth-making tradition, the story of its most celebrated evolution leads to Milan, the final stop on “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass”. It was here that the union of Bitter Campari and Vermouth di Torino gave rise to the "Milano-Torino", a cocktail that went on to win over an international audience. It subsequently became known as the "Americano", owing to its popularity among American travellers who frequented the cafés of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

The story paints a picture of a Milan that was already cosmopolitan, a crossroads for entrepreneurs, artists and travellers, where the ritual of the aperitivo became an expression of conviviality, conversation and urban style. This tradition lives on today through “From the Americano to Milano da Bere”, a journey encompassing four landmark venues that trace the city's evolution through the Belle Époque, artistic experimentation, international design and contemporary hospitality:

• Camparino in Galleria, the successor to the historic Caffè Campari, founded by Gaspare Campari in 1867 and a Milanese landmark since the early twentieth century;

• Bar Jamaica, a historic meeting place in the Brera district, frequented throughout the twentieth century by artists, writers, photographers and intellectuals;

• Bar Basso, a symbol of creative, international Milan, closely associated with design culture and celebrated for transforming the aperitivo into a cultural phenomenon;

• The Carlton Bar, where Salvatore Calabrese's Americanello reinterprets the legacy of the Americano for the present day, celebrating a city that has transformed the aperitivo into an authentic language of conviviality.

Through the four cocktails at the heart of “Italy Grand Tour by the Glass”, Rocco Forte Hotels raises a glass to Italian cities, traditions, generations of travellers and, above all, the quintessentially Italian ritual of the aperitivo.