A Milanese bar in the Brera district — the kind that has been here long enough to have become the neighbourhood's default morning rhythm. The counter is marble, the espresso is served without ceremony, and the expectation is that you will stand to drink it. The Pinacoteca di Brera is five minutes away, and the route between the two — down Via Fiori Oscuri — is one of the city's better morning walks: cobbled, narrow, a small courtyard opening midway with a resident cat and an iron door that is always closed. The bar holds the designers, the gallery staff, and the old neighbourhood in the same standing space, which is what a good bar does.
Brera, Milan, Italy