A guide to aperitivo in Milan, the city’s iconic cultural ritual

Inside Cà-Ri-Co, a cocktail bar with a smaller bar within that is dedicated to martinis, in Milan, July 9, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

To understand how central the aperitivo is to Milan culture, you need only stand in the middle of the Piazza del Duomo and face the cathedral. To your right, you will see a huge version of the Martini vermouth logo glowing atop a modest skyscraper in nearby Piazza Armando Diaz. At its top is the rooftop bar Terrazza Martini. There, Martini’s various vermouths are poured into everything from Americanos to Manhattans.

To the left, you will see the three-story arched entrance to the century-old Camparino in Galleria. Camparino is the home bar for Campari, the bittersweet liqueur that is Milan’s pride and joy. And Campari and more Campari is what is served inside. A few feet away and one story up is the Terrazza Aperol (Aperol and Campari are owned by the same company), dedicated to the namesake liqueur, where the colour scheme is orange, not red. There, instead of a French 75 or Bloody Mary, you can order an Aperol 75 or Aperol Mary.

A customer enjoys a Negroni Sbagliato, made with Prosecco rather than the usual gin, at Bar Basso, in Milan, July 12, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

The aperitivo hour, which lasts from late afternoon to early evening, is as intrinsic to Milan life as fashion and “The Last Supper.” The centrepiece is an appetite-stimulating libation, typically light in alcohol and usually vibrant in colour. There’s the spritz (the bittersweet liqueur of your choice, wine and soda water), the Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth, soda water), the Milano Torinos (just Campari and sweet vermouth) and the Campari Shakerato (Campari, all shook up). But not every aperitivo-hour drink is a lightweight. The trendy Negroni, which is nothing but booze (gin, sweet vermouth, Campari), and the even-trendier Negroni Sbagliato (sweet vermouth, Campari and prosecco) are widely popular.

The drinks are almost always accompanied by a few snacks. The idea is that everything should be the work of a single bite. You sip, nibble, talk, repeat.

A bartender prepares a martini at Cà-Ri-Co, a cocktail bar with a smaller bar dedicated to martinis, in Milan, July 6, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

“For Milanese people, and in general for Italian people, the aperitivo is a true ritual,” said Guglielmo Miriello, the director of the Mandarin Garden, the bar inside the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Milan. After a time when mojitos, Moscow mules, and gin and tonics dominated, “now there is a return to the great classics, such as the Negroni and the bittersweet cocktails,” he said.

The Milan drinking scene is simultaneously old-fashioned and au courant. The world has caught up to Milan’s lighter, more bitter style of drinking. A host of trends have brought this about. First, there’s the ever-growing thirst for the century-old Negroni, a rebirth generated by the craft cocktail revival. Then, there’s the public’s recent embrace of drinks that have a lower alcohol level.

Tommaso Cecca prepares a Compadre, made with mezcal, chinotto liqueur, agave syrup, sweet vermouth, bitters and, of course, Campari, at Camparino, in Milan, July 6, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

And then there’s the fevered enthusiasm that the Negroni Sbagliato is enjoying. For decades, this cocktail was primarily known and consumed by Italians and cocktail geeks. Then, last year, it rocketed to fame via a viral video in which “House of Dragons” star Emma D’Arcy stated it was their favourite drink.

“In the last few years, the demand for gin has increased,” said Maurizio Stocchetto, an owner of Bar Basso, the birthplace of the Negroni Sbagliato. “So has the demand for Campari and Aperol Spritz and for the Negroni Sbagliato.”

Bar Basso vies with Camparino as the city’s most famous aperitivo destination. The Negroni Sbagliato is served in a goblet that would make a decent home for a goldfish. The Negroni arrives in a foot-tall plastic wineglass.

Still, Milanese bar owners are trying to broaden the array of beverages that are consumed during aperitivo hour. Miriello offers an original drink called the Italian Beauty which contains St. Germain, Aperol, lemon juice and Champagne.

When you ask Domenico Carella, an owner of the cocktail bar Cà-Ri-Co, what the most popular cocktails in Milan are, he lists off the usuals, including the Milano Torino and Aperol Spritz. When the bar decided to open a second, smaller bar inside Cà-Ri-Co in September 2021 — and with the list in mind — the owners naturally dedicated it to the martini.

Inside 1930 speakeasy, where you can drink only if you are personally invited, one of seven bars in the city run by the Farmily Group, in Milan, July 8, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

At the Martini Room, guests can book time at the horseshoe-shaped bar in 30-, 60- or 90-minute increments. The admission fee gets you access to the “martini free flow,” as the menu puts it, and accompanying bites. Although Carella personally considers the martini an aperitivo-style drink, he knows he is in the minority. “Italians prefers bitter stuff, bitter or vermouth; lower ABV are always the favorite choice,” he said, using industry shorthand for drinks that contain lower alcohol by volume. Still, he’s not worried he opened the Martini Room in the wrong city. In 2022, he sold 5,000 martinis, he said.

The martini also gets the serious treatment at a quirky bar just steps from Bar Basso called drinc. Cocktail & Conversation. Order a martini here, and a bar cart may be wheeled to your location and the cocktail prepared tableside.

A Fusettone, made with a new liqueur called Bitter Fusetti and pink grapefruit soda, at Iter, one of the Farmily Group’s bars, in Milan, July 6, 2023. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

Asked if he thought the martini was part of bars’ aperitivo culture, owner Luca Marcellin said, “I would say absolutely yes. Especially in mine.” (When first created in the late 19th century, the martini was, indeed, regarded as a predinner appetite stimulant.)

This is perhaps just as it has always been in Milan. Stocchetto said dry martinis have long been a popular order at Bar Basso.

Recently, Milan’s old and new drinking spheres collided when a collective of young mixologists created its own red bitters. The Farmily Group — five men, four of whom are bartenders — owns and runs seven bars in Milan. During the pandemic, all those bars shut down for a time. The group used its free time to devise a new product, Bitter Fusetti. (The liqueur is named after the street its bar Iter is on, Via Mario Fusetti, which is itself named after a World War I hero.)

A bartender puts the finishing garnish on a Campari Shakerato (Campari, all shook up) at Camparino, in Milan. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

The goal, said Flavio Angiolillo, a partner, was to produce a spirit “capable of becoming a valid alternative to the Italian classical bitters already available on the market.” That means when you go to Farmily Group bars, your Negronis will be made with Bitter Fusetti instead of Campari. The team also wants to extend the uses of Italian bitters beyond the usual to include drinks that employ citrus and other fresh ingredients. The main vehicle for this is something called the Fusettone, a highball made of Bitter Fusetti and pink grapefruit soda.

The Farmily Group’s portfolio of bars offers every sort of experience. In addition to Iter, a bistro where staff trips to various spirit destinations are later translated into thematic menus, there is a speakeasy called 1930 and BackDoor43, a 43-square-foot booze-lined closet with four seats.

Negronis in foot-tall plastic wine glasses at Bar Basso, in Milan, July 7, 2023. The nightly aperitivo ritual is central to the northern Italian city’s culture. Photo / Andrea Wyner, The New York Times

Things are moving forward at the old Camparino, where o Bar di Passo bartenders wield tweezers to lower citrus slices into goblets of glowing red liquid.

In 2019, a space upstairs from the main bar opened as Sala Spiritello. It is “the place where the bartenders’ art of mixology comes to life,” in the words of Tommaso Cecca, the store manager and head bartender. The most popular drink there is the Compadre, made with mezcal, chinotto liqueur, agave syrup, sweet vermouth, bitters and the inevitable Campari.

In its expanded form, the Camparino will simply be a microcosm of Milanese culture, which is always an interplay of the fresh and classical. A lot of the newer bars offer the same sort of high-concept craft cocktails you can find in other large cities, but one senses that they know they’re never going to completely beat tradition. The aperitivo will always be king in Milan.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.