Bar Basso
The Milan bar where the Negroni Sbagliato was invented: laid-back, old-fashioned, and the design-week crowd's after-party of choice in Citta Studi.
Some bars earn their reputation; Bar Basso invented its. This is the Milan institution where the Negroni Sbagliato was first mixed (the ‘mistaken’ Negroni, sparkling wine standing in for gin) and to this day it arrives in a glass of faintly absurd proportions. Trying one, at least once, is close to obligatory.
The setting is Città Studi, a quarter kept lively by the city’s student population. For most of the year the mood is easy and unhurried, all old-fashioned charm and legendary aperitifs. During Salone del Mobile, Milan’s annual design week, the picture changes: Bar Basso fills steadily through aperitivo hour and becomes the after-party venue of choice for the neighbourhood.
What keeps it on the must-visit list is that it has resisted the urge to reinvent itself. There is no concept, no rotating menu of the moment, just a bar that has done one thing exceptionally well for decades and sees no reason to stop. The charm is precisely in that steadiness.
For a traveller in Milan, Bar Basso is less a stop than a small rite of passage. Go for the laid-back atmosphere, the old-world detail, and a Negroni Sbagliato in that oversized glass, and stay for the particular pleasure of drinking somewhere that knows exactly what it is.
