SERVICE
Cream of the Crop From a childhood spent serving gelato in Tuscany to building one of the world’s most awarded bars, Giacomo Giannotti takes his Paradiso brand to leading late-night destinations. Words: Hannah Currie • Portrait Photography: Courtesy of Paradiso Ibiza
M
ost people know Giacomo Giannotti
my wife,” he smiles. “We got together almost immediately. I
best behind the bar, but his first taste of
had planned to keep traveling, but after meeting Margarita,
hospitality came from behind the counter
I had to stay, so Barcelona became our home.”
of his family’s ice cream shop, Gelateria
By 2015, the Catalan city’s bar scene was gathering
Paradiso. Growing up in Carrara, a coastal
momentum. It was the perfect time for Giannotti and
town in Tuscany, he quickly learned the
Margarita to open their own place; a speakeasy tucked behind
meaning of genuine service. “It’s a true family business
a retro fridge door in a small pastrami shop. With its dimly
and our customers have become part of that,” he reflects
lit, surrealist interior, Tuscan marble accents and a wooden
over video call from Italy, where he has returned briefly for
ceiling curved like the Barcelona coastline, Paradiso quickly
a family gathering. “I love being in that environment. Even
became a reference point for local bartenders, while guests
then, I knew that I would spend my life in the F&B world.”
were drawn to its lively atmosphere and highly creative
While studying at hospitality school, Giannotti discovered
cocktails presented in unexpected vessels. “We were pushing
a passion for bartending, and in 2007 moved to “the cocktail
a new wave of mixology,” Giannotti says of those early days
capital” of London. For four years, he trained at Eclipse
in the fashionable Born district. “When you open a bar like
in South Kensington. “It was there that I learned how to
that, you have to bring your whole life experience to the
become a bartender,” he says. “I had so many experiences
table. Combine that with passion and endless work - that’s
that shaped me, both as a man and as a professional. But I
what makes it happen.”
was still young, and I wanted to travel.”
The speakeasy format had been shaped by travels across
Spain’s sunny climate soon lured him to Barcelona. “It felt
Europe and exposure to some of the continent’s most creative
like this amazing city with a Mediterranean vibe, and I had
bars. “Before opening, I went back to London, to Paris and
the chance to learn a new language while continuing to work
to Milan to research,” he explains. “The bars there had this
at a high level,” he says. Early roles at Eclipse’s sister site
wow factor at the entrance.” Practical considerations also
within W Barcelona, and later at Hotel Ohla Barcelona would
shaped the concept. “As an Italian, I really wanted to serve
prove significant in more ways than one. “That’s where I met
food inside,” he says, “but the space we took didn’t allow
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