Jonathan Bailey Fansite

"It just shows the creativity surrounding these campaigns and to shoot in one of the most beautiful places on earth can't be too hard," he says. "It was everything that I think a summer aperitivo should be."

It also brought up a sense of nostalgia for Bailey. "I always just think about the experiences that I've had in Italy, cycling through the Tuscan hills or Salento. Then you stop and if you're with friends and the sun is setting and you've been in the sea, those memories you take with you with a martini spritz all around the world," he explains. "That's what I feel when I have a spritz. It immediately connects to that Italian elegance and it's just relaxed. There's no effort needed. I definitely start the night with a spritz, always."

After wrapping his press tour for Wicked: For Good, the actor "spent lots of time with family and friends and then I've just been working on The Shameless Fund," he says of his LGBTQ+ organization. "And thinking about who you want to be in the world and how you want to show up and what you can do to help. I don't know, it's been lovely. It's been brilliantly existential, but also very grounding."

Indeed some of his favorite memories during the last year was cycling from Rome to Pisa, "and I was Best Man to my friend Sacha Dhawan and Anjli Mohindra when they got married and it was just amazing," he says. "Sometimes you miss out on really key moments because you're working, but it was such a brilliant few weeks. I just felt very inspired and ate loads of food in Italy and had loads of spritzes and yeah, it felt really, really great."

Currently in production on a new film in Germany, Bailey says he's already looking forward to weekends "and for those balmy evenings to sit with a spritz. It will just be an immediate leveler." Aside from working, the actor plans to "do loads of cycling. I’d love to go to the Dolomites and some beautiful places around Munich. My friends are going to come over and I’ve managed to slip in a couple of music festivals already."

Do people recognize him on his bike? "No, because I’m in head-to-toe Lycra," he says, laughing. "No, I'm not. But they will if I start singing, probably."

A perfect summer day entails "coffee and then a little walk. Go for a swim, read a book. And then have a boozy, late lunch. Then go have a snooze, and then a light dinner and dancing. That sounds amazing. That’s the fantasy."

The reality, he insists, "is getting up early, cross-eyed cycling to the set, getting lost, missing breakfast, shaving and cutting my chin, getting my lines wrong and then wobbling home because I’ve lost my bike."

As for how life has changed since being crowned Sexiest Man Alive, Bailey jokes "it's been exhausting," he says, laughing. "Yeah, I mean, listen, it's been fantastic. I'm hoping the next recipient is in training and I look forward to handing the baton over. But it's been a majestic eight months. And now we can toast with our Martini Bianco Spritz."