At Santa Pizza Desenzano we're already thinking about spring, which is why we're already working on the new Cocktail menu for summer 2022 — our bartenders are busy with mixology experiments like true American bar chemists.
Our drinks station has been expanded with new Gins from around the world: the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland and of course Italian Gin labels like Gin Malfy and Engine.

- Gin Malfy is perfect for summer but ideal for every season; Malfy gin is a selection of citrus gins that captivates its audience with the deliciously refreshing taste of lemon, orange and fresh grapefruit alongside the bold taste of juniper, and the caressing aroma of citrus peel that makes it perfect paired with tonics or spirits for more elaborate cocktails.
- ENGINE, on the other hand, is a London Dry gin handmade by master distillers from the Alta Langa area, in northwestern Italy. It's a unique, hand-bottled product. Its formula is tied to the Piedmontese tradition of Rosolio, with sage and lemon, once used as a natural digestif. It's made with 100% Italian, organic ingredients.

Even though we're still in February, aperitivo on these last winter weekends in Desenzano has felt like we were in the middle of summer! Thanks to the nice weather and our Bar, the horizon opened up and gave us a clear view of our Lake Garda. Thank you to everyone who came through Desenzano and chose to have aperitivo at Santa from early afternoon onward. The Santa Igloo stayed practically full the whole time, and even those who unfortunately couldn't find a seat inside drank standing under the heating lamps! A good Cocktail warms the heart and mind even in February!

In our cocktail bar there's a question we get asked more and more:
What's the best-selling drink at Santa Pizza Desenzano?
Well, here's the list of the most requested drinks on the Desenzano del Garda waterfront:

1. Spritz (9,283 drinks)
2. Hugo (2,042 drinks)
3. Non-alcoholic Cocktail (964 drinks)
4. Mojito (864 drinks)
5. Moscow Mule (964 drinks)
6. Americano (467 drinks)
7. Premium Gin Tonic (440 drinks)
8. Negroni (320 drinks)
9. Hugo Santa (305 drinks)
10. Sex on the Beach (252 drinks)

No offense to the purists of Mixology and the American Bar, but the best-selling Italian drink as an aperitivo, now and always, is the thoroughly Italian Spritz, with Aperol or Campari, or a mix of both. The Spritz is a Long Drink presumably born between the 1920s and 1930s in Venice — some say Padua, but it certainly originated in the Veneto region.
The word Spritz comes from the Austrian-German verb spritzen, meaning to spray, referring to the gesture of lengthening wine with sparkling water. In those years, people had the idea of adding Aperol (a Padua-made product born in 1919), an orange-flavored bitter at 11°, to this custom, giving birth to the famous Italian aperitivo called Spritz.
Second on the list we have the Hugo, invented in Trentino Alto Adige as an alternative to the Spritz in 2005 by a certain Roland Gruber, who says he chose the name at random... he wanted to call it Otto, then changed his mind... thankfully.
Increasingly requested during aperitivo, in third place we have Santa's Non-alcoholic Cocktail, which our bartenders create differently every time using the freshest fruit available that day, tailored to each customer's taste. In fourth place, the Mojito, a very famous cocktail of Cuban origin, beloved as an aperitivo especially in summer, and included on the IBA list, the International Bartenders Association. What's that? It's the international organization that represents bartenders around the world — the most authoritative organization in the bartending industry worldwide. Also on this list is the fifth best-selling long drink at Santa: the Moscow Mule, so called because to "push" the Vodka in 1940 they added ginger beer and lime — the result? A taste that "kicks like a mule."

In sixth place, one of our favorite drinks: the Americano, made with bitter and red vermouth, is the fizzy, thirst-quenching aperitivo Cocktail, opening with herbal, slightly sweet notes and closing with a bitter aftertaste. Technically it's a pre-dinner drink, belonging to the French-Italian class, and it gives its name to the "Americano" family of drinks, which are made, precisely, of vermouth and bitter.

In seventh place we find our Premium Gin Tonic — not simple gin tonics, but carefully sourced, one-of-a-kind Gin blends that make them perfect for the Gin Tonic and Pizza pairing. In eighth place we find the Negroni, one of the most famous (and alcoholic) aperitivo cocktails, created in Florence in the 1920s by Count Camillo Negroni; it became famous as the fashionable Americano of Count Negroni, being essentially an Americano with the addition of Gin. The same kind of twist applies to the Hugo by Santa, in ninth place, with a touch of Tanqueray Gin to balance the sweetness of the classic Hugo, often ordered together with a Santa Pizza. In tenth place we have the Sex on the Beach, invented by bartender Ted Pizio in 1987 in Florida. When Ted asked why so many young people came to Florida during spring break, the answers were always beach and sex: so he decided to call the cocktail Sex on the Beach, make sense, right?