On paper, his name is Fabio Cavagna. But to everyone, he’s Benjamin. “Even my mother and my closest friends call me that. My wife wouldn’t dream of using Fabio. Once, when my father-in- law wrote me a letter and she read the name Fabio, she asked: who on earth is Fabio?” Benjamin Cavagna, bar manager of 1930, laughs as he tells the story. The private club that once thrived in secrecy is secret no more, following its move from Via Pasquale Sottocorno to Via Edmondo De Amicis, now hidden in the basement of Mag La Pusterla, part of the Farmily Group.
The Origin of the Nickname Benjamin
The truth behind his nickname has long since come out. “People have always seen me this way: long beard, jacket, tie, cufflinks. But I’ve looked like this since I was twenty. When I renewed a contract back then, the owner was astonished and said: wait, you’re really 21? Then you’re Benjamin Button. You’d better hope you age backwards, or you’re finished,” Cavagna says with irony, nodding to Fitzgerald’s tale and David Fincher’s film with Brad Pitt.
The résumé of Benjamin Cavagna
Born in 1991 in Lumezzane, near Brescia, Benji carries something rare: a mix of lightness and gravity, experience and curiosity, the ability to look back while moving forward. His CV fills in the rest: a social sciences high school, a promising career with Football Club Lumezzane, set aside for philosophy at the University of Milan. “I still have two exams left. But the path is what matters,” he says.
Between books and shakers, he split his time between Milan and his hometown, working in two of Lumezzane’s busiest bars. “That industrial town taught me a lot. In Milan, people are layered; in Lumezzane, you could have a factory worker and the son of a business owner at the same table. You had to make both feel important — teaching the worker the value of a finer product, and showing the wealthy guest that there’s more than just expensive things.”
How Benjamin Cavagna Joined 1930
It was, he recalls, a remarkable training ground. The leap came thanks to a chance encounter. “One day I met a man with a moustache, a hat and a French accent. It was Flavio Angiolillo, and he offered me the chance to work summer shifts at Mag on the Naviglio Grande.” That’s how Cavagna’s Milanese adventure began, eventually leading him to 1930, founded in 2013 and now one of the world’s most celebrated speakeasies, listed among The World’s 50 Best Bars. “For years we managed, for better or worse, to keep the address on Via Sottocorno under wraps, guarding our secret. But in truth, these so-called secret bars are rarely that mysterious. Too often the idea has been diluted and overused. It’s like when someone says: this is our secret room — yet the moment you show it, the secrecy is gone. So you wonder: do these places still work, do they still have meaning?”
The New Location of 1930
That reflection led to a new chapter. In January 2025, 1930 moved beneath Mag La Pusterla, revealing its location but preserving its aura of exclusivity. The enigmatic staircase, the disguised door, the ritual of being escorted down. Only 193 membership cards exist — a kind of priority boarding for the most faithful, a tribute to loyalty over the years. Others must wait upstairs, hoping for a coveted seat in the salon below. Brick walls meet marble and velvet; wood and wicker soften under low light, mirrors, sofas, rugs, and an old jukebox. An intimate, enveloping room — reborn, renewed. A sense of youthful ease that Cavagna himself embodies: philosopher, bartender, rule-breaker.
The 1930 À La Carte Drink List
His latest project erases the boundary between kitchen and bar. The menu 1930 À La Carte borrows the structure of fine dining: appetisers, mains, desserts. Alongside it, the “Unforgettable Cocktails from the Kitchen” — a “Parmigiano Colada” with 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano, black truffle and Jamaican rum; as bold and gastronomic as any dish from a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Not by chance, the bar opens at 7.30 PM, closes around 2.30 AM, and one drink often leads to another, a tasting menu unfolding glass by glass. The team of five works with a humanistic, cultural approach, turning flavours into experiences that carry memory, sensation, belonging. Conceptual cocktails, yet grounded: “Hummus”, “Butter and Anchovies”, “Tortellini in Brodo”, “Cacio e Pepe”, “Pizza Marinara”, “Cannolo”, and “Sacher Torte”. Creations born of infusions, precision, and craft. “Like chefs, we never reveal too much — we keep some ingredients secret,” Cavagna smiles. Then he lets slip a detail: “Sometimes an ambassador walks through the door. And yes, plenty of royal families too — the real ones.
The article first appeared on Coqtail – for fine drinkers. Order your copy here
Images credits Julie Couder x Coqtail – all rights reserved
