Cocktail bars have always been ‘open kitchens’ of a sort. There has never been much mystery around what goes in a mixed drink. But a new wave of cocktail bars seeks to lift the curtain on what goes into the components of a drink. Fede, at the landmark Hotel Balestri in Florence, is the latest in a new trend of cocktail ‘labs’, bars where patrons can watch spirit-making in action and, in this case, join in the making process.

Fede is the brainchild of Giulio Fratini, CEO of Florence-based developer Belvedere Angelico and son of Balestri’s owner, Sandro Fratini. He sought to create a place where the guest is not just a spectator, but an active participant: free to observe, interact and engage. Together with project manager Albert Dallago, creative director Simone Covan and bar manager Simone Ulivi, Fratini conceived of a fully operational, open-view professional lab where experimentation and production take centre stage.

‘Fede is one of the very few hotel cocktail bars in Italy with a professional laboratory in full view,’ says Dallago. ‘In Florence, there are no others like it. We can proudly say it offers a unique experience in the city’s mixology landscape.’

The interior design was overseen by Oscar Benaim of Studio Benaim, a Florence-based architectural practice known for its immersive, experiential spaces. He anchored the Fede’s main room with a nine-metre oak bar sculpted like fabric, with soft curves that fold and drape. The curving countertop is Bardiglio marble, a modest stone commonly used for thresholds and windowsills, in mottled grey vein. And the stools are arranged asymmetrically, so guests can sit close or further apart. Behind the counter are mirrored bottle racks illuminated by a large suspended ‘cloud’ of burnished brass.

The lab remains visible yet separated from the main lounge by a large glass 1940s-inspired wall with a frame of clear and ribbed-glass panels to filter light. Its sculptural Bardiglio-marble frontage represents the cycle of a cocktail: from raw, imperfect material, through the alchemic process, to the counter. The stone slabs were manually split to create rough, textured, highly expressive surfaces.

‘Some projects begin as true adventures,’ says Benaim. ‘From the very start, you sense that you’re shaping something special – without clear references, without precedents. This was one of those projects.’

The name Fede comes from a painting of an elderly woman Fratini found in the hotel years ago. He discovered the woman — as well as being part of the Balestri family — had been a pioneering figure of female emancipation in her time, boldly challenging roles and conventions of early 20th-century Italy. Her name was Fede Annunziata Wittum Balestri, and the bar is dedicated to her courage and creative spirit.

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