Venice Cocktail Week, the first Venetian cocktail week arrives from 13 to 19 December

From 13 to 19 December Venice Cocktail Week arrives in Venice. An intense week of meetings and sharing under the patronage of the City of Venice in the best 26 cocktail bars in the city, to highlight Venetian venues from a different perspective from the more traditional one to which we have been accustomed until now. 

“The list of international events hosted by Venice in recent months is growing – declares the Tourism councilor Simone Venturini – Fashion, art, shows, food and wine and now also top-level mixology. We are particularly happy about the arrival of Cocktail Week in the city, an important opportunity to tell the world about the great professionalism of our barmen and the quality of the products used. Thanks therefore to Paola Mencarelli and the entire Venice Cocktail Week team!”

During the 7 days of the festival, each VCW21 Cocktail Bar will create an exclusive VCW21 Cocktail List created specifically for the event dedicated to Venetian mixology. Everything will be enriched by Masterclasses, Night Shift and themed evenings with internationally renowned guests, but also from cultural initiatives and recreational activities to bring the general public closer to the discovery of another Venice. 

There are four Venice Cocktail Week drinks from the #VCW21 Cocktail List of the 26 selected venues

1. Signature Cocktails. A freely created drink representative of the cocktail bar during VCW21
2. Winter Cocktails. A hot drink to warm the soul during the cold winter period
3. Twist on Spritz. A twist on the Spritz, a traditional Venetian cocktail
4. Cocktails I can drink Italian. A drink dedicated to MADE IN ITALY with Italian products from companies participating in RiEsco a Bere Italiano.

The Cocktail Week format, born in London in 2008, was brought to Italy by Paola Mencarelli in 2016, when she decided to organize the first edition of Florence Cocktail Week in her hometown of Florence. Given the success of the Tuscany event in 2020, Aman Venice asked Paola herself to export the format to Venice too, to organize the first Venetian event dedicated to mixology in the Serenissima.

“At Aman Venice we are very proud to have thought of contacting the Florence Cocktail Week team to try to bring an event to Venice that contributes to giving prestige to the offer linked to the world of mixology of the Serenissima and that gives the opportunity to this world of collaborating and discussing.” Tell it like this Silvia Manganaro, Director of Sales & Marketing of Aman Venice. “It all started by chance. The Aman Venice bar is an important asset for us and perhaps the hotel service that best allows us to maintain ties with the city: with this in mind we said to ourselves that an event that involved the whole city and could also contribute promoting qualified tourism, linked precisely to the world of mixology, as already happens in other cities in the world, could be a winning idea. We know that logistics is less easy than in other cities but the energy of Paola and the whole team flattens bridges and dries up canals!”

“In this particular year we didn't give up and decided to double down by bringing our Cocktail Week format to Venice” Paola Mencarelli concludes “It will be an unusual edition for this type of event which prefers the summer, but we will warm up this splendid city of art and culture with the sound of shakers and cocktails.”

DESIGN and ART

Great attention was also given to design and art. 

The Venice Cocktail Week logo is signed from Piero Lissoni with Lissoni&Partners who gave the event his personal and modern interpretation of the event, a common thread that links the world of cocktails to Venice, starting from the design of a Martini glass that transforms into a gondola created by Marino Lucchetti, Bar Manager of the Hotel Londra Palace . 

VENICE COCKTAIL WEEK PROJECTS 

SHOSHIN ART CLUB for VCW21 Bartenders under 25

Valentino Longo – Head Bartender of the Four Seasons at The Surf Club (Florida) – gave the Bartenders under 25 participating in Venice Cocktail Week the opportunity to access his Shoshin Art Club platform for free. 

Shoshin is a virtual hub created by Valentino himself where you can find all the fundamental information and teachings of the most famous names in the world of international mixology. Multimedia classes useful for those who want to embark on a career as a Bartender and be trained on the basics and informed about news.

Jonathan Bartoletti of Blue Drop won access to the Shoshin Art Club platform.

CREATIVE THINKING with Ilaria Legato

In February 2022, the brand and food designer Ilaria Legato - author together with Nicoletta Polliotto of the book 'Creative Restaurant Branding' published by Hoepli - will propose to the 26 venues participating in Venice Cocktail Week a creative thinking workshop to bring out or find the extraordinary identity of your cocktail or venue

THE LIST OF COCKTAIL BARS PARTICIPATING IN VENICE COCKTAIL WEEK

1. Alchemy, Ca' di Dio
2. I love, Fondaco dei Tedeschi
3. Arts Bar, The St. Regis Venice
4. Bar Dandolo, Hotel Danieli 
5. Bar Gabbiano, Cipriani, A Belmond Hotel, Venice
6. Bar Longhi, The Gritti Palace
7. Blue Bar, Hotel Excelsior
8. Blue Drop
9. Caffè Baglioni, Baglioni Hotel Luna
10. Florian coffee
11. Lavena coffee
12. Chet Bar 
13. ChicBar, Taverna La Fenice
14. Excess Venice Cocktail Food&Garden
15. Experimental Cocktail Club, Il Palazzo Experimental
16. Grancaffè Quadri 
17. Il Caravellino, Hotel Saturnia & International
18. The Merchant
19. Londrabar, Hotel Londra Palace
20. Palazzina The Bar, Palazzina Grassi
21. San Giorgio Café
22. Skyline Rooftop Bar, Hilton Molino Stucky Venice
23. Tarnowska's American Bar
24. Aperol Terrace
25. The Bar, Aman Venice
26. Time Social Bar