Locale Review

Tucked in the Santa Croce neighborhood of Florence, the thirteenth-century building that houses Locale looks fairly unassuming. Inside however, a few things tip you off you’re in for a good tipple: a massive live plant wall alludes to the use of fresh, local ingredients, a few hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling testify to a sense of whimsy, and a massive, centralized bar signals a sense of priorities.

We found service to be great; a prompt welcome drink, attentive servers, and some pickled veg and roasted almonds that, while not neutral, were delicious. The menu is relatively succinct, with 13 libations and another 4 NA drinks, though it’s a lineup of heavy hitters. When asking for a recommendation between the Maria Dolores and their riff on an Aviation, it was noted that Maria Dolores was the only menu item without a house-made preparation featuring a local ingredient, so it’s safe to say handcrafted attention is definitely the norm.

While everything we tried was delicious, there are two drinks we’d call out to specifically recommend:

• Mario Rossi: Caper distillate, vermouth, and a bitter amaro. For a relatively short ingredient list, this one packs a lot of complexity. While essentially a riff on a Negroni, the caper distillate is both intriguing and super drinkable–just the right level of savory to raise an eyebrow without making the drink “type 2 fun”. The pickled caper leaf garnish was the umami cherry on top.
• Black Lemon Sprtiz: Black lemon liquor, prosecco, and strega. You may receive this one as a recommendation if you ask, and for good reason. It’s hyper-palatable, but the black lemon brings enough of a roasty upgrade to distinguish this from the thousand other spritzes you could pick up in the city. For easy drinking, this one is a no-brainer, and will still make you think.

What stuck with us from Locale was how nearly every drink struck the balance of novelty and incredible drinkability; each concoction brought something unexpected, but the surprising elements never got in the way of being damn delicious. If you’re in Florence, Locale is absolutely mandatory drinking in my book.