For those working in the design industry, any visit to Milan should be capped off with a stop at Bar Basso. The bar – with its handsome brass trimmings, decent alfresco seating and smiling, well-groomed waiters – heaves with custom every April during the annual Salone del Mobile and runs a tidy business year-round. It was at Bar Basso that I found myself on a recent July evening, happily enjoying a well-earned Aperol spritz after a day spent reporting for Monocle’s Italy Innovation special, which will be published with our October issue.I sat with the spot’s perpetually jolly owner, Maurizio Stocchetto (pictured), a cigarette protruding from his half-masked mouth. The atmosphere remained buzzy but he spoke of a year that’s been very different to others: no Milanese fashion brands flying him and his team to Seoul to cater glamorous events; no hedonistic Salone evenings either. My host for the evening was Valentina Ciuffi of Milan-based graphic-design agency Studio Vedèt, which has an office not far from the bar. This week the studio launched the digital platform Bar Basso Allstars. Through charming photography and classy design, the website tells the stories behind the people who kept Bar Basso moving while the world paused.