Bar Longhi, The Gritti Palace in Venice

In one of the most beautiful places in the world, an aperitif impossible to forget: we are at Bar Longhi of the Gritti Palace in Venice.

I love Venice like few other cities in the world-Rome, Paris and Moscow. A Venice you can go back a thousand times and still, even though it is a small city with a population of less than fifty thousand, you know you will never know it enough. Its charm and its atmospheres, however you will carry them with you nostalgically, all your life.

In Venice you find people from all over the world, from all walks of life. For this accommodation and food and wine offerings are diverse. I like to alternate between visiting very different venues: from tiny Bacari that are as defiladed as can be, to large, highly emblazoned bars and restaurants, often housed in luxurious hotels.

Bar Longhi, The Gritti Palace, bar counter

This is precisely the case with the Bar Longhi, of the very luxurious and 15th-century The Gritti Palace, one of the most elegant hotels in the city.

In places like this, superlative adjectives are wasted, and so I will struggle to use as few as possible. You, too, however, make an effort: try to imagine stepping into this context of refined Italian and European elegance, far removed from the wondrous, glittering stars of so much Middle Eastern hospitality, for example.

At the Longhi bar, you can sit in one of the charming little rooms inside, perhaps the one right in front of the bar counter, or in one of the two outdoor terraces that lie right on the Grand Canal. One of them is furnished with tables and chairs specially made in collaboration with and from the same materials as the world-famous luxury wooden motorboats, by Italy’s Riva.

The service is perfect and elegant but without losing the taste for polite conviviality. Great selection of Champagne but also Italian bubbles, many by the glass as well. So too for still wines of any type and origin.

Those who read me often know: I also really love blended drinking. I find it a very interesting world and way of drinking. I practice it little, though, otherwise my health suffers. When I was younger, on the other hand, I went very in-depth.

Longhi Bar, The Gritti Palace, Manhattan cocktails — Bar Longhi, The Gritti Palace, Manhattan

Here, at Bar Longhi I decided to drink mixed and had my favorite cocktail made: the Manhattan. And when they served it to me I was delighted to find it absolutely perfect and executed in the most classic way possible, far removed from the many caricatured fanatics that some bartenders claim to administer to their customers, without even trying to test their wishes. Be aware, however, that Bar Longhi is famous for its Martini Cocktails., prepared at the table with a dedicated trolley.

Of course, whatever you drink, they will also bring you something to snack on: delicious cooked bites, which will be increased for you if you stay at the tables for a longer time. In short, you can enjoy a sumptuous aperitif, without noticing the passage of time, with one of the most beautiful and fascinating views in the world. If it seems little…