Tasting the rhythm at Madison Cafè Tropea – By K. Basher
If you are inexperienced and find yourself for the first time, as a helper, behind the counter of a bar, they usually ask you to be fast, polite and to sell the most expensive drinks. You will see the bartender fiddling with utensils and glasses of various types, you will see him wink and make choreographed movements like in a TV show while he prepares concoctions with catchy names by adding sprigs of spices, colored balls, ice in the most unusual shapes, colored liquids, feathers…
They are preparations so fancy that they seem to have just come out of Barbie’s house or a Kardashian’s room!
Absolutely not! Mixing a drink is a very delicate thing and requires knowledge and good taste.
Every sip of a cocktail has to be a gentle and bewitching encounter of defined aromas and flavors that marry in harmony. There is no need to overdo it as American bartenders usually do, by mixing a jumble of ingredients whose flavors cover each other. Let’s leave these “kitsch” drinks to those who drink only to lose themselves in alcohol and get drunk. Therefore if you have problems go to the analyst, don’t go to the bar!
The culture of drinking is another and you can certainly find it at Madison Cafè, one of the 100 most famous bars in Italy, located at 91/93 via Libertà in Tropea, (VV), Italy.
In the third issue of the Napulitanamente magazine, released on October 1st, 2021, we gave voice to the owner of Madison Cafè, Francesco Mazzitelli, an entrepreneur and a highly competent bartender, who constantly dedicates himself to the search for high-quality products and who, over the years of his career as a bartender and entrpreneur, has always maintained an ethical approach to the world of drinking and the ability to know and adapt perfectly to his customers, never disappointing their expectations but rather enriching their experience. Francesco is former trustee of A.I.B.E.S.(Italian Association of Bartenders and Supporters), which is among the founders of I.B.A. (International Bartenders Association),for Calabria and Basilicata. He has a deep knowledge of each product he choose to sell. He truly takes care of your senses at Madison Cafè aka the paradise of spirits.
Open-minded and innovative he is a pioneer of the well drinking and has conceived, more than 20 years ago, things that not even in Milano were conceived. Starting from the concept of the location then getting to the products for cafeteria, and gelato, which is of his own production, to arrive at the spirits selection, he has always offered excellent quality and particularity. He not only prepares you a drink but he educates you on how to drink. At Madison Cafè you can enjoy classic cocktails and special mixings, formulated with ingredients that have the “pedigree”!
Comparing yourself with foreign countries does not necessarily mean conforming otherwise you risk losing your identity. Comparison is good for getting inspired, for having an input.
Francesco took inspiration from the culture of Tiki mixing, making it a completely Calabrian experience. He makes tiki cocktails using ingredients such as bergamot, almond, of local origin, and serving them in cups that represent the faces of the Moors or the Calabrian apotropaic masks made in Bagnara Calabra.
With great economic efforts he resists, albeit in a more flexible manner, standardized products. Madison Cafè you can have a pomegranate juice made with fruits that come from the province of Reggio Calabria or a juice of soursop (annona cherimola) and bergamot, another of soursop and mango or, if you prefer, soursop and yellow kiwi. All locally grown fruits, nutritious and of high quality. These are ingredients and products that you don’t find everywhere.
Since its opening, Madison Cafè had available more than 400 labels of wines from the world and from all the regions of Italy. Later, to support the Made in Italy he focused on the sale of exclusively Italian products and then, more specifically, products from Southern Italy. During his travels, Francesco noticed that wherever he went in Italy, Sicilian, Apulian, Campanian wines were available but not Calabrian, which is why, at a certain point, he decided to sell exclusively products from his land.
In Italy there is little connection, and even less coalition. We complain about having lost the “Made in Italy”, when, in reality, we were the ones who let it go, selling it to the first bidder.
Then there was the pandemic emergency, yet another excuse to definitively destroy all the businesses that resisted the multinationals. We are devaluing our land and selling it off to embrace the scam of globalization at the expense of authenticity.
Entrepreneurs like Francesco, who sometimes lost out of their own pockets, in order to give the best to the customers, are now forced to downsize, sometimes even to give in, inserting something more commercial among the products.
This prevents the growth of businesses and hinders the evolution of the territory. But when will we wake up? Let’s not wait until it’s too late! We must support businesses opposed by the global system and multinationals, we must take back what belongs to us and return to the quality of life that has distinguished us in the past from other Western countries. We need to buy products that come from our lands, products whose origin we know, and if we are not sure about it, let’s trust those who, like Francesco, know the small businesses, the small producers who fight to resist this involutive system.
Francesco resists by always remaining ethical and consistent, giving priority to genuine local products and thus maintaining the 5 stars that anyone who enters that entrance assigns to Madison Cafè.
And so does his wife Caterina and all the staff. In fact, Madison Cafè has even expanded its offering with the gastronomy sector. In addition to the original proposals for breakfast, aperitif, snacks and after dinner, it does not offer ridiculous gourmet sandwiches in colored plastic, but sandwiches of real pasta, stuffed with genuine and tasty ingredients.
From classic sandwiches with Calabrian cured meats to Roman pinsa, to saltimbocca, buffalo hamburgers seasoned with what you like most such as ham, salami, speck, tomato, salad, authentic Tropea onion, ‘nduja… In short, at Madison Cafè you will find delicious food accompanied by high-quality drinks and impeccable service.
We are proud to present it as one of the sponsors of Mediterranean Cocktail of Art II edition.
If you find yourself on the Costa degli Dei, to make the most of your trip and live the true drinking experience, the Madison Cafè is a stop you can’t miss.
