Three (new) reasons to visit the roof of The Student Hotel Firenze
Restyling of the terrace, but also of the food & beverage proposal: we tell you about the new look of the famous Rooftop Pool & Bar in viale Spartaco Lavagnini.
“The beach is boring“. The Student Hotel Florence it started right from here, from one of the most popular slogans Instagram yourself of Florence (and is therefore rigorously renovated as and where it was before), to re almost entirely his own Rooftop pool and bar in the name of sharing, the quality of raw materials and healthy fun. A 360 ° restyling that once again the break with the classic conception of hotel sought by the TSH brand, to be understood rather as one co-living and co-working space where travelers, students and locals gather to study, stay, work and socialize. The new Brand & Marketing Manager Italy knows it well, Martina Nestiwhich showed us a preview of the three big news for summer 2022.
The new spaces
The Rooftop Pool & Bar has been completely renovated with the Rizoma project and with a new food & beverage identity which best describes the personalities of the Bar Manager Palmira Bertuca and of Chef Gianluca Esposito. The Rooftop thus becomes a versatile club with a new look & feel in shades of black and green, with plants and botanicals, a larger bar counter and entirely new furnishings. A two-sided venue that transforms into an intimate and suggestive cocktail bar in the evening, while remaining a vibrant and lively pool club during the day, always with a view of the iconic logoed swimming pool and one of the best views of the city.
The new cocktail proposal
Since last year, TSH Firenze’s cocktail proposal has been entrusted to the Bar Manager Palmira Bertuca, bartender with over 10 years of experience in international hospitality. Born in Catanzaro and raised in Bologna, Palmira fell in love with mixing from a very young age, starting to work in some clubs during the weekends. After learning many secrets of the trade during the summer working seasons in a cocktail bar in Marina di Ravenna, she decided to devote herself to her profession and at 21 she moved to the European capital of cocktails: London. She started from London edition – five-star hotel – to then move on after three years in Australia, first at the Four Seasons and then at Bar Machiavellipopular Italian restaurant where he worked as a Supervisor, becoming passionate about the world of wine and following the second level of the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust).
To follow, another experience at Soho House in Barcelona by Cecconito then fly to Singapore as Head Bartender at Marcello’s, Intercontinental cocktail bar with a focus on bitters. In the end, Bar Manager at Adrift, restaurant of American Star Chef David Myers, at Marina Bay Sand. In 2021, when she returned to Italy, she joined The Student Hotel Firenze as Bar Manager, taking care of the cocktail bar located on the terrace. Its new Signature Cocktail menu is geared towards the concept of zero waste with the aim of using all parts of the ingredients with a view to sustainability and according to seasonality, selecting only Italian fruit. The protagonists are 14 drinks created both by taking inspiration from the great classics and daring blends with unexpected, including a selection of four non-alcoholic. And so, among the “no abv” drinks we have a non-alcoholic Gin Tonic, a version of the Virgin Mary and others; to then go up to the “low abv” with variations of Margarita, fruity and smokier cocktails, to finish with a couple of signatures with the highest alcohol content. An elegant cocktail list for all tastes, to be savored while admiring a postcard-worthy Florence.
The new food proposal
In combination with the cocktail list, the Italian tapas menu signed by Executive Chef Gianluca Esposito. Born in Castel San Pietro Terme in the province of Bologna and of Neapolitan origins, he acquired his varied wealth of flavors during his childhood, including trips to the market near home and holidays in Naples. After attending the Hospitality Institute working as a waiter and assistant cook, he arrived at the kitchen for the first time there trattoria da Amerigo since 1934 * in Savigno in the province of Bologna, where he learned the basics of high quality cuisine by doing everything at home: from bread to pasta, passing through the meat section, up to making sweets. After an experience a La Pernice e la Gallina * with Marco Fadiga and La Locanda del Sole * in Trebbo di Reno, in 2004 opened with two Ciacco friendsa restaurant in Bologna that brought him good accolades from critics and guides, to then become in 2008 Chef of the Bartolini Terrace in Milano Marittima.
In December of the same year his adventure as Chef of the Eataly restaurant in Bologna, synonymous with quality food and market. Here, she collaborated with the most important Chefs in Italy, before moving to Eataly Rome as Chef of the largest Eataly gourmet restaurant in the world. In September 2014 he returned to Bologna and started the restyling of the kitchens and the format of Eataly Ambasciatori, to then have a two-year experience in the three new and modern hostels of Combo, a Turin-based company that develops new hospitality formats in Venice, Milan and Turin. In 2020 he joined The Student Hotel with the opening of Bologna and a year later he was appointed Cluster Chef Italy, also managing The Student Hotel Firenze.
Following the line of mixology, its food offer is oriented today on the Italian nature of the ingredients and the seasonality of raw materials, with the aim of marrying a sustainability perspective, using as much as possible of each element. Much fish, raw, vegetable, give life to a varied and complete selection of dishes, which allows you to accompany drinks in a playful and informal way, with a sharing concept that focuses on the combination of quality and fun. We pass, for example, from Amberjack taco, peach, leaves, spicy mayonnaise and Trope onionto raw seafood, from vegan dishes such asMarinated watermelon with raw tomato, basil, almond and sprouts come an Italian excellences Culatello di Zibello DOP, confit tomatoes and Pank cereal bread.
Ultimately… You just have to go and try!
Photo by The Student Hotel