Moebius Milano is now the best cocktail bar in Europe — try the pesto martini
Milan has just been crowned Europe's best drinking city on paper. Moebius Milano landed at number two on the World's 50 Best Bars list for 2026, making it both the best bar in Europe and the highest-ranked Italian bar in the award's history. The ceremony even took place in Milan on Wednesday, October 7 — the first time Italy has hosted it.
For anyone planning a trip, the bar itself is the draw. Housed in a former textile warehouse near Milano Centrale, Moebius is a sprawling 700-square-meter venue that is part cocktail bar, part restaurant, part cultural space, with live jazz, soul and bossa nova, a record shop, and a fine-dining room upstairs run by chef Enrico Croatti.
The interiors are worth the visit alone: exposed iron and concrete, vintage armchairs, and a 700-year-old Andalusian olive tree stretching up through the room. Behind the bar, a concrete tower displays hundreds of bottles.
The drinks that made it famous
Bar manager Giovanni Allario's menu takes familiar classics and twists them with ingredients you'd normally find in a kitchen. The signature pesto martini — vodka, vermouth, homemade pesto and white balsamic vinegar — was inspired by his Genoese roots and has become the bar's calling card. The carrot bamboo mixes vermouth, gin, sherry, carrot, yuzu and shiso.
Moebius is no overnight story. Opened in 2019 by Lorenzo Querci, it jumped to seventh place last year and took home the Highest Climber Award. This year's runner-up finish is five spots higher.
Milan has long been a serious cocktail town — it's where Campari opened its café in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II back in 1867, and where Bar Basso's Mirko Stocchetto is said to have accidentally invented the negroni sbagliato in the 1970s. Now a new generation is pushing further, with spots like the invitation-only speakeasy 1930 and Madrid-born Salmon Guru opening outposts near the Arco della Pace. Milan always knew how to enjoy a good drink. The rest of the world is finally taking notice.