Inevitably, there’s a story behind the name of this trendiest of bars in Milan: built on the site of an old bicycle shop, Biciclette has capitalized on its history – with bike logos, glass floor tiles into the old basement workshop, and a mountain bike suspended from the ceiling.

It follows the Milanese trend for sponsorship: owner Ugo, who also runs a communications company, is marketing mad. Possibly with more sponsors than any other bar, Le Biciclette is almost like a quasi-trade fair, complete with plenty of freebies for its punters.

Its hip and professional clientele seems to take this in its stride and the atmosphere is vibrant and relaxed. With the subtitle ‘Restaurant and Art Bar’, it serves contemporary Mediterranean food within monthly changing modern art expositions in a 1970s modern-retro restaurant.

The bar area is both industrial and baroque, thanks to layers of diversely different refurbs since opening in 1998.