Anthill

Anthill is part of the food and drink project that chef Giuseppe Iannotti has created at the Gallerie d'Italia on Via Toledo, the art museum housed in a former bank building on the city's main shopping street. The project also includes 177Toledo, a bistro and a coffee bar, and Anthill is its cocktail and tapas bar. It is one of the venues that have shaped the new wave of drinking in Naples.

The concept is unusual. Rather than choosing a drink by its base spirit, guests choose a mood, and the bar team suggests cocktails to match. The drinks list was created by bartender Anna Garuti and designed to pair with Iannotti's tapas, small plates that bring a chef's precision to bar food. Signature cocktails have included the KTM: La Bestemmia della Fata and the Formicaio, whose name, meaning anthill, echoes the bar's own.

There is a rooftop garden, which makes the bar particularly appealing on warm evenings, when a drink above Via Toledo is a welcome break from the crowds below. With the tapas, it is easy to turn an aperitivo into a light dinner, and the combination of museum, bistro and bar under one roof makes it simple to plan a whole afternoon and evening around the building.

Prices reflect the chef-led concept and the setting, in line with other upmarket cocktail bars in the city. Booking is a good idea at weekends and for the rooftop in summer. Check current opening times before you go, as hours may change with the seasons and with events at the museum.

It suits couples, food lovers and anyone curious about contemporary Neapolitan cocktail culture, and its central position makes it easy to fit into an evening in the city centre. Via Toledo runs from Piazza Dante to Piazza Trieste e Trento, and the Gallerie d'Italia building is near the lower end of the street, close to the Galleria Umberto I. The Royal Palace, the Teatro di San Carlo and Piazza del Plebiscito are a few minutes' walk away, and the Quartieri Spagnoli climb the hill just behind Via Toledo. Toledo and Municipio stations on metro Line 1 are the nearest stops, and taxis are easy to find in the area late at night.