Bar Basso

Bar Basso is a legend among Milan's bars, the place where the Negroni Sbagliato was born. The story goes that the bar's owner, Mirko Stocchetto, reached for sparkling wine instead of gin while making a Negroni; the result, with Campari and red vermouth topped with bubbles, was named sbagliato, meaning mistaken, and it has since become one of Italy's best-known drinks. Stocchetto died in 2016, and his family continues to run the bar, which feels like a living museum of Milanese bar culture.

Nothing much has changed inside, and that is the point. The atmosphere is half café, half cocktail bar, with a long counter and an old-fashioned feel that regulars would not want changed. The signature is the Sbagliato served in an enormous stemmed chalice, a glass designed by Stocchetto himself and now a symbol of the bar, though cocktails are also served in more modest hand-blown Venetian glassware. The list covers the classics, and the bartenders make them with the confidence of long practice.

Bar Basso has a special place in the design world. From the 1980s it became a favourite of international designers, and since a famous party during the 1999 furniture fair it has been the unofficial late-night meeting point of Milan Design Week, when crowds spill onto the pavement on Via Plinio. The rest of the year it is calmer, a neighbourhood bar for locals of all ages.

Prices are moderate, and the drinks are generous. The bar suits couples, friends and anyone who appreciates classic cocktails and old-school service. Reservations are not usually needed outside Design Week, but evenings at weekends are busy. It opens from morning until late, so you can also stop for a coffee, and it is closed on some weekdays, so check before making a special trip.

Via Plinio is in the residential area between Porta Venezia and Città Studi, east of the centre. The nearest metro stops are Lima and Loreto on line M1, about ten minutes' walk away. Corso Buenos Aires and the bars of Porta Venezia are close enough to make an evening of it. If you visit during Design Week, go early or late, as the pavement outside fills with people from the early evening onwards.