Daniele was born in Florence in 1984. His mother is from Tuscany and his father was born in southern Italy. He has a brother who was also Barkeeper but has since changed his profession. After leaving school, Daniele studied art history in his hometown and started working as Barkeeper to finance his student life.
He started in a small Italian snack bar that served coffee and sandwiches and only a few cocktails were served. A few Negronis a day or a Spritz was all he mixed in this small place called Migliorni. However, he loved the job and wanted to explore what it meant to do this kind of work full time.
He subsequently moved closer to the centre of Florence and gave up his studies. Daniele then worked at Rivalta Café, FUK and Golden View Open Bar. During this time he met Lucca Picchi, a famous Italian Barkeeper from Florence, while attending a course at a bartending school to deepen his knowledge of mixology.
After the first course he took from Lucca, he was approached by him and asked if he would also consider teaching at AIBES (Italian Bar Guild). Lucca was like a mentor to Daniele and after teaching at AIBES, he also taught classes at the Shaker Club.
In the summer of 2016, he was offered a job as bar manager at the newly opened Rasputin and jumped at the chance to run the most famous cocktail bar in Florence - which he still does today. Currently, Daniele only teaches special whisky courses at a local hospitality college. He is fully dedicated to his position as bar manager at Rasputin.
Rasputin
Rasputin is THE secret cocktail bar in Florence. Its focus is on the classic cocktail with a twist. The bar has forty-five seats and there is a strict no-standing policy. The crowd is made up of about 50 per cent tourists and 50 per cent locals. The bar is open daily from 8pm to 2am.
The team consists of only five bartenders, all of whom also serve as waiters. They take turns and can thus go into detail with the guests according to their tastes and preferences. The cocktail menu changes twice a year. Another focus of the bar is the wide selection of over 150 whiskies.
Inspiration
Daniele usually starts with a concept. For Jiro, a creation of his, for example, he saw the documentary Jiro, Dreams of Sushi and wanted to create a tribute to the revered sushi chef Jiro Ono. On other occasions, he takes an interesting ingredient and starts from there. Classics are always a good source of inspiration, as most cocktails today come from a classic recipe. Food and travel provide further inspiration.
At the moment, Daniele is studying the cuisine of Szechuan - he doesn't really cook, he just studies it. Florence is a very international city, and despite the excellent Italian cuisine, you can find excellent ethnic restaurants all over the city.
Favourite bar
Benfiddich in Tokyo. The classic hospitality combined with Japanese bartending is why Daniele loves it so much. It's very intimate - there's no cocktail menu and the room is very small. The drinks are modern and the Barkeeper wear white jackets. Such a concept is only possible in small Japanese bars.
The person
Age: 36
Bartender since: 2010
Hobbies: Reading, comic books, cookbooks, whisky, meeting friends and especially visiting other bartenders in other bars.
Dream: To travel the world and visit other bars and do a guest shift in them.
Photographer: Giovanni Rasoti | instagram.com/giovanni.rasoti
This article appeared in
Issue 2-2020
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
