Cubì

Salento in a cocktail bar

It was 2017 when, in the center of Salento, one of Italy’s trendiest tourist areas of the last year, Diego Melorio, Andrea Carlucci, Francesco Coluccia, Mirco Rizzolomini, and Stefano Leo gave life to a dream: opening a cocktail bar in the historic center of Maglie. The name is a tribute to Diego and Andrea’s bar in Lecce – Quanto Basta – and the way clients shorten the name: QB, pronounced Cubi. The drink list by head bartender Massimo Gemma and his staff includes simple signature cocktails mixed with the right amount of homemade preparations, like cordials, sodas, and syrups. The spaces seat twenty in the interior open space and thirty in the alfresco area of the private courtyard and highlight the concrete and wood counter, covered in “cementine” – the distinctive Salento hand-painted concrete tiles. Both local and foreign clients can choose spirits from the bottle rack and drink them pure or in their cocktails – that can be tailored to the client. There’s no difference between ordering at the table or the counter, as the waiter themselves are also bartenders.

Favorite cocktail? Negroni