From Wednesday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 25, Venice will once again turn its attention to cocktails with the return of Venice Cocktail Week 2026 (VCW26). Created by Paola Mencarelli, the event marks its fifth anniversary this year, celebrating a format that has helped put the city’s drinking culture in the spotlight by turning some of Venice’s leading hotel bars and cocktail bars into stops on an itinerary devoted to drinks and hospitality.
Venice Cocktail Week 2026: Five Years of Mindful Drinking
Venice Cocktail Week was shortened from seven days to five in 2025, a decision intended to make the program tighter and easier to navigate. So while five days for a fifth anniversary is a happy coincidence, the event’s evolution has been anything but accidental. Five editions of steady development have established Venice Cocktail Week as part of the international cocktail calendar.
Hotel Bars and Cocktail Bars Take Center Stage
The 2026 edition retains the format developed over previous years, also refined through Mencarelli’s sister events in Florence, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast and Cortina. This year, particular attention has been given to expanding the roster of participating venues.
New and returning names include Palladio Venice, Herbarium, Wagon Bar Orient Express and K Lounge Bar, alongside established VCW participants such as Arts Bar at The St. Regis, The Bar at Aman Venice, Caffè Florian, Il Mercante and Grancaffè Quadri. The full lineup is still being updated and is available on the event’s official website.
Three Cocktails for VCW26
As in previous editions, each participating bar will create a three-drink menu specifically for Venice Cocktail Week 2026: a classic cocktail, an original signature created for the occasion and a low- or no-alcohol aperitivo, reflecting the increasingly prominent role of mindful drinking in contemporary bar culture.
The Barkeeper initiative also returns, shifting attention toward the bartenders themselves and the stories behind the people working the city’s bars. Meanwhile, pop-ups from Mencarelli’s other Italian Cocktail Weeks — Florence, Tuscany, Cortina and Amalfi Coast — will bring their respective bar scenes to Venice.
Where Cocktails Meet the Kitchen
Food remains an integral part of the week. VCW26 will bring back Dining with the Spirits and Pastry with the Spirits, two initiatives that invite Venetian chefs and pastry chefs to use spirits as ingredients in dishes and desserts. Their creations will then feature in a series of dedicated events throughout the week, extending the conversation between the bar and the kitchen.
An Event for Drinkers and the Industry
“Venice Cocktail Week is an independent project conceived as a meeting place for discussing the current and future trends shaping mixology, open to newcomers, enthusiasts and industry professionals alike,” Mencarelli says. “It is an event that reimagines the contemporary bar and returns to Venice with an increasingly stimulating program.”
Photos courtesy of Italian Cocktail Weeks
