Address: Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 43
The first cocktail bar in Milan from Flavio Angiolillo’s now epic Farmily Group, MAG Cafe, opened in the heart of the Navigli in 2011. The cocktail current roster, named “World Comes to Milan”, features a selection of cleverly crafted cocktails, each named after a different country, in honour of the 2026 Winter Olympics. China combines ginseng rum, litchi liqueur, rice-and-peach cordial, sapsang souchong tea and lime, while France mixes Cognac Martell VS, prickly pear distillate, Ratatrip (a proprietary take on French ratafia), ratatouille water, wine-tomato reduction and lemon. The boho-vintage interior ups the charm factor: an Argentine pharmacy counter, dangling bicycle wheels affixed with lights resembling the spokes of a ship helm, and ever-changing paintings and ornaments. The group’s other establishments include La Pusterla, MAG’s sibling; 1930, the elusive invite-only speakeasy; Backdoor 43, the world’s smallest bar; Iter, a cocktail bar equipped with a proper kitchen; and two outposts of Tripstillery, Italy’s first cocktail bar with a distillery onsite.
Address: Via Pietro Borsieri, 32
In Milanese dialect, “Tusa” means “girl”, the inspiration for owner Norma Galdamez’s cocktails, all named after 20th-century female trailblazers. The Sissi combines rum, lime and chestnut honey, with notes of coffee and mint, for a tipple as intense, sweet and unpredictable as its namesake princess. Gin, cardamom, Lapsang, Verjus and pink grapefruit soda channel the vivacious spirit of the late Raffaella Carra, an iconic, boundary-breaking Italian entertainer, while the Ella Fitzgerald, with Jameson Black Barrel, toasted sesame, Shochu, toasted hazelnut and rakomelo reduction, is warm, velvety and elegant–just like her voice. The inviting, feels-like-home ambience is enhanced with low velvet sofas in shades of green, blue, and yellow, marble and wood tables, and quirky gold-framed artwork and portraits on the sapphire walls.
