Inside, bartenders work within arm’s reach of the kitchen brigade. Outside, a sea-facing counter and a row of pools lie in wait for the return of summer. Through April, Alto Rooftop Bar in Cervia — set within the Villa del Mare Spa Resort — collapses the distance between bar and restaurant, folding its service into the fine dining room and turning the off-season into a shared workshop.
Niccolò Amadori and the Pursuit of Flavor Between Food and Cocktails
At the center is Niccolò Amadori, a Bar Manager whose résumé runs through New York, Sydney, and Milan before circling back to Romagna, where he also launched the Alto Cocktail Festival, convening bartenders and chefs from across the globe. “For the next couple of months we’ll be working side by side with the kitchen, shaping a more intimate atmosphere, something close to a modern speakeasy,” Amadori says. “Mixing just a few meters from the brigade and from chef Leonardo D’Ingeo creates a constant exchange. Pairings come together in real time, and the service tightens around each individual drink. It lets us fine-tune everything, live.”
The Philosophy Behind Niccolò Amadori’s Drink List
By late spring, the bar opens up again. “The outdoor rooftop becomes our natural setting,” he continues. “When the counter moves back between the pools and the sea, the scale changes. We remain an American bar, but with a heavier flow of guests, especially international. Indoors, it’s about precision and dialogue. Outdoors, it’s about energy. Two different setups, same identity.” That identity is anchored by Amadori’s drink list.
Titled Sapore (Flavor) it’s the second chapter in a project built around direct, unembellished naming. The idea is straightforward: what you read is what you taste. “We want guests to recognize in the glass exactly what’s on the menu,” he says. “Simple names bring the focus back to what matters most: flavor. It’s a way of translating the places and experiences that shaped us.” It’s also a deliberate position at a time when, in his view, bars are leaning too heavily on visuals and storytelling. “There’s a risk of losing focus on the quality of what’s in the glass,” he notes.
Sapore Cocktails Between Ingredients and Technique
The menu reflects that clarity. “Bergamotto” reads as a citrus-driven Spritz with vodka, fig wine, and caramel. “Mela” takes the form of a highball built on whiskey, mirin, milky oolong tea, and green apple. “Pera” moves into gimlet territory, with gin, pear eau-de-vie, green cardamom, and fresh pear. “Be(a)t” leans earthy — a Margarita with mezcal, elderflower, and beetroot. “Pistacchio” twists the Mai Tai through rum, bitter almond liqueur, pistachio orgeat, lime, and green mandarin.
Further along, “Carrot Cake” turns into a Flip with bourbon, pimento, vanilla, carrot, white chocolate, zabaglione, and mascarpone. “Banana Split” riffs on the Ramos, built on cocoa-bean-infused tequila, pandan liqueur, oloroso sherry, banana, vanilla ice cream, and egg white. The drinks sit alongside a tapas menu by Chef Leonardo D’Ingeo, who is leading a new phase for a space that weaves together kitchen, bar, design, and hospitality.
The Tapas Menu and the Excellence of Sapore
“The Tapas Bar project started in winter and will carry into summer,” Amadori says. “We’ll keep rotating the dishes.” The late-night panzerotto, served from midnight to 2 a.m., changes filling every month. Pain perdu is reworked with blond chocolate namelaka, soft caramel, and salted fried sage. A focaccia layered with Podolica beef pastrami, poppy seeds, and Caesar mayo adds a deeper, more savory register. From the sea, a French toast topped with pink shrimp tartare, fig crème fraîche, shrimp chips, black lime powder, and shellfish oil brings brightness and salinity. Taken together, the menu traces a line between Southern Italy and the Adriatic, grounded in a clear, recognizable approach to taste. At Alto, the boundary between kitchen and bar dissolves into a single idea: flavor, treated with focus and intent.
The article first appeared on Coqtail – for fine drinkers. Order your copy here
Images courtesy Alto Rooftop Bar.
