We retrace the journey of Tommaso Cecca, from his beginnings as a bartender to today, Store Manager and Head Bartender of Camparino in Galleria, a historic Milanese venue and symbol of the true Italian aperitif, the 27th bar in the world for The World 50 Best Bars upon its first entry into the charts last December.
Tommaso Cecca he started working in bars at a very young age. After a series of experiences, at eighteen he moved to London to learn the language, a youthful adventure which served him above all to get to know and study the great bars, bars super sluts, as the English define them, to meet important personalities of international bartending such as Salvatore Calabrese, and to come into contact with a certain type of consumer who turns drinking into a real personal culture. In 2001 he came into contact Roberto Cavalli, and moved to Milan to work in the designer's new restaurant, one of the first to mix the concepts of fashion and food together. The next step is at Caffè Trussardi, a long journey that lasted eleven years, where he obtained social recognition.
Your arrival at Camparino represents another great achievement in your career.
I have dreamed of this place since my first years in Milan, I don't think there is a bar with such a dense and important history, placed in a special context, in the beating heart of the city, in front of one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world. What we are today is the result of work that began four years ago. Here at Camparino, together with the whole team - I always want to reiterate how fundamental people are, how important it is to all move in the same direction - we have worked to build and reconfirm the brand, which is now clear in the minds of customers, is recognised, and therefore it has inevitably transformed. We cannot limit ourselves to the sphere of cocktails, the concept behind the creation of a bar like ours is much broader and more complex, made up of many factors, from attention to detail to hospitality, nothing is left to chance.
How do your two souls, that of a bartender and that of a manager, coexist?
It was a very natural evolution, linear with my path. While before I was focused onexecution, today I am mainly focused on resource management. But the joy that creating a new drink and searching for new flavors gives me is a satisfaction that continues to be there, it is nourishment for my bartender soul. Today it's all cerebral, we are always looking for innovative concepts without ever losing sight of tradition: we have a heritage, of roots to be respected and valorised. Here at Camparino there are two souls: one super classic, all day long, casual, embodied in a real street bar, the Passo Bar; the other, more formal, elegant, which looks to the future, is represented by Spiritello Room.
We can no longer think of managing a brand like ours by focusing only on making cocktails and serving dishes. It is essential to diversify the business. For example, we are focusing on prebatched cocktails: it is one of the projects that is part of the bar's evolution process, ready-made cocktails of excellent quality, destined to reach even the most remote places, where people cannot drink a good cocktail.
What is the creation process that takes place within your laboratory?
Here everyone has the freedom to express themselves and experiment, each team member creates two cocktails per season, there are nine of us, so eighteen drinks per season. Each drink is tasted and evaluated by everyone, and together we make the final decision. Only in this way can an excellent result be achieved, behind every decision there are sixteen eyes and nine palates, so as to be as objective as possible and reflect what is best not so much for us, but for the customer.
Compadre
The kiss
And what about your concept of hospitality?
We aim for the absolute well-being of the customer. Since our guests are very curious and attentive to detail, we analyze the contexts and situations that are created within the venue, in order to make continuous improvements. Thanks to our two souls, the Bar di Passo and the Sala Spiritello, we boast an offer of cocktails within the reach of both young people and older people.
What does the concept of “Italian drinking” mean to you?
I find that it means representing Italianness at 360°, from the choice of ingredients to the way of dealing with customers, our "style" of catering and hospitality is one of the best known and recognized globally. Certainly at Camparino the culture of Italian drinking has been established since 1915, it reflects its maximum expression, demonstrating its recognisability at both a national and international level. For us it is essential that people, when they come to Camparino, experience the Italian bar with all its characteristic facets, immersed in an environment of absolute historical and cultural level.
Campari Seltz
Any projects in store for the future?
We aim to export the Camparino culture to other places, e.g see it as a protagonist not only in its original headquarters in Milan. In this regard, a process is underway seeding and of testing on the market at multiple levels, to understand what is best for us and act accordingly. This is an evolutionary and transformative process that will lead to a series of innovations that you will see soon.
Cardinal's Negroni
We end on a high note with our ritual question: what is your favorite cocktail?
I have several, but if I have to choose one I'll tell you the Negroni, a great classic. I also really like them fancy cocktails, innovative drinks in which there are also five ingredients which, if well balanced and balanced, are capable of turning on all the receptors of your palate and making you emotional.
Negroni
