From April 16 to 22, Florence hosts the ninth edition of Florence Cocktail Week. Over seventy venues involved, a community of Italian bartenders recognized internationally: our guide to the conscious drinking festival.
Florence Cocktail Week celebrates its tenth anniversary and Florence confirms itself as the capital of Italian mixology: from April 16 to 22, seventy cocktail bars and hotel bars celebrate the journey that since 2016 has transformed the way of drinking in Italy, generated a large community of bartenders and four cocktail weeks in the country, including Venice Cocktail Week.
A Tuscan journalist with a background in French literature, journalism and gastronomic criticism, Paola Mencarelli brings the cocktail week format to Italy—already a feature of the London scene—creating a week to discover the best cocktail bars and hotel bars in the city, along with cocktail lists, guest shifts, masterclasses and events open to professionals and enthusiasts.
To celebrate these ten years, Mencarelli chooses to focus on the people who have built this journey:
“What began in 2016 as a gamble with only 13 cocktail bars has now grown to seventy venues. The secret lies in the value of human relationships and continuity. Our recipes and products are among the most loved and recognized in the world, and among our bartenders are extraordinary professionals.”
Only Italian bartenders for this edition, Mencarelli explains: professionals working in Italy, or those who, by taking their talent abroad, promote the value of Made in Italy.
The Cocktail Book in Florence
The tenth anniversary will also be celebrated with the release of Cocktails in Florence, the guide created with Gruppo Editoriale that features 59 venues in the city selected by Mencarelli herself, with iconic drinks, recipes and portraits of bartenders, photographed by Veronica Gaido, a friend of FCW since the first edition.
What to Expect at #FCW26
For seven days Florence will be a journey discovering the art of mixology: the seventy cocktail bars and hotel bars will offer an FCW26 drink list composed of three cocktails: a Signature Cocktail, created by the bartender as an expression of their identity and the venue, a Classic Cocktail from the great timeless classics of tradition, and a Wellness Cocktail with low alcohol content or completely non-alcoholic.
Drinkers can consciously choose what they are ordering: for the first time, each FCW26 drink list displays the alcohol content on every cocktail.
The program includes Guest Shifts, Masterclasses, Brunches, Aperitifs and Pop-Up Bars of the Italian Cocktail Weeks, as well as initiatives that unite mixology and gastronomy: Dining with the Spirits, Pizza with the Spirits, Pastry with the Spirits and Gelato with the Spirits, with Florentine chefs and artisans using spirits as ingredients.
With the Barkeeper format, the resident bartenders of each venue are available at dedicated times to share the philosophy and FCW26 creations from their bar.
As media partner of Florence Cocktail Week, we have created a series of Guides with our selection of events, to discover Florence through its best venues and best bartenders. And to tell you about the event live, see you in Florence!
Thursday, April 16
Atrium Bar
At the Atrium Bar of the Four Seasons comes Agostino Perrone, Director of Mixology at the Connaught Bar in London, one of the best bars in the world, for an evening behind the bar that is rarely experienced in Italy.
Gucci Giardino
Late eighteenth-century boiserie, columns with carved capitals, mustard yellow panels and peacock blue leather sofas: Gucci Giardino hosts the Garden Brunch by Lorenzo Querci and Giovanni Allario of Moebius Milano, seventh bar in the world in the World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 ranking.
Locale Firenze
Locale Firenze is one of the most beautiful bars in the city. It is located in the thirteenth-century Palazzo Concini, inhabited by the Medici family. It presents the Martini Social Club, with six of the most influential bartenders on the Italian scene: Flavio Angiolillo, Patrick Pistolesi, Benjamin Cavagna, Riccardo Rossi, Alexander Frezza and Abi El Attaoui.
Djària American Bar
The first day of Florence Cocktail Week closes at Djària American Bar with Baldoria Dinner, a pairing dinner where the American cuisine-inspired menu meets a selection of classic cocktails and contemporary twists based on Baldoria Vermouth.
Tuesday, April 21
The Historic Cafés Tour returns again this year, the guided route through Florence’s historic cafés in collaboration with Ricomincio da Firenze: a free tour for a group of twenty people by reservation (ludovica@florencecocktailweek.it), which concludes at Caffè Gilli 1733 with a Negroni tasting.
Caffè Gilli 1733
With Mauro Varagnolo of Caffè Florian in Venice, Caffè Gilli 1733 in the late morning presents: What the World Envies Us… History, Traditions, Aperitivo, a reinforced aperitif for the meeting of the two oldest historic cafés in the world.
Locale Firenze
On the same date, Locale Firenze hosts Geranium from Copenhagen, three Michelin stars and among the best restaurants in the world, with a special four-hands dinner: chef Simone Caponnetto and bar manager Fabio Fanni prepare for only twenty seats a journey of dishes and cocktails in pairing, where the creations of the Danish restaurant dialogue with the mixology of the Florentine venue.
Discover Florence with Design
Il Gusto di Xinge
Among the venues to discover during the week is Il Gusto di Xinge, the Florentine restaurant of Xin Ge Liu, a Chinese chef among the most acclaimed in Tuscany: in her cocktail bar DrinXinge the drink list is constructed as a Chinese zodiac wheel, with twelve cocktails paired with the signs of the Chinese calendar. A unique venue of its kind, worth visiting throughout the year.
Florence from Above
With FCW26, four rooftops transform the aperitif into an experience that activates all the senses: Aria Rooftop by Iside De Cesare at Tivoli Palazzo Gaddi, the Rooftop Bar at The Social Hub, the Empireo American Bar & Rooftop at Plaza Hotel Lucchesi and Cosimo in Piazza Ognissanti, each with an FCW26 drink list and a program of events throughout the week.
The Contest
As ten years ago, the Contest returns on Thursday, April 16 at 2:30 PM at Locale Firenze, the competition among bartenders who compete with their signature cocktail in front of the same three judges from 2016: Patrick Pistolesi, founder of the renowned Drink Kong in Rome, Stefano Nincevich, authoritative voice in industry journalism in Italy, and Luca Pirola, director of Bartender.it, the first Italian magazine dedicated to mixology.
Alongside the historic protagonists, thirty-one bartenders under 25 alternate each day in seven cocktail bars, with the Young Guest Bartender format: a complete and concrete training path, in which participants choose the products, create the drink list and manage the evening independently.
The Distilleries of Florence
Opening a distillery requires years of research, significant investments and an industrial vision. Among the news of this edition, the opening of two new distilleries: two entrepreneurs have chosen Florence to invest in spirits production, confirming that the city has become a credible and mature market for the sector.
Fermenthinks
Fermenthinks inaugurates Saturday, April 18 its new headquarters in Bagno a Ripoli with a party and in a location that will be revealed only on the day itself (Sunday 19) with the final of the Boulevard to Florentis Competition.
Discover the PROGRAM Day by Day
We at Venezia da Vivere will be there and will tell the story of Firenze da Vivere on Instagram: @veneziadavivere
2026 Agenda
Also to mark on the 2026 calendar is Venice Cocktail Week, which from October 21 to 25 brings the same energetic and engaging format to Venice: in the best cocktail bars and hotel bars of the city, the culture of conscious and responsible drinking finds its dimension also among palaces and terraces on the Grand Canal.
United by their commitment to promoting the crafts and culture of the territory, Venice Cocktail Week and Venice Fashion Week collaborate each year in building a shared calendar that traverses Venice through fashion, artisanal research and contemporary mixology, and return with joint events, including Cocktail with the Designer.
Florence Cocktail Week 2026
April 16–22, 2026 Florence
florencecocktailweek.it @florencecocktailweek
Venice Cocktail Week 2026
October 21–25, 2026 Venice
venicecocktailweek.it @venicecocktailweekofficial
Article by Lucia Pecoraro. Photos courtesy of the press office.
