Aperitivo in Milan

Aperitivo is the most Milanese thing there is — more than the Duomo. It is the hour and a half between work and the evening when the city stops, sits outside and has a drink with something to pick at in front of it. It is not a promotion, it is a social habit, and understanding it is worth more than any list of venues.

How it works

You arrive between 18:30 and 20:00. You order one drink per person. With the drink comes food: in some places snacks brought to the table, in others a buffet you serve yourself from.

The bill is for the drink. The food is included. And that is where the one unwritten rule that matters lives: one drink per person. Sitting down four-handed with two glasses and emptying the buffet is the quickest way to get a cold look.

From eight o'clock the buffet disappears and the place moves to dinner service. Arriving at 20:15 is arriving late.

What to order

• Negroni — gin, red vermouth, bitter. Born in Florence, adopted here without reservation.
• Americano — the same thing without gin, lengthened with soda. Lighter, older.
• Milano-Torino — bitter and vermouth, the ancestor of both. It is literally named after the two cities the two ingredients come from.
• Spritz — from the Veneto, not Milan, but it is everywhere and nobody argues.
• A glass of white — the choice of those who will actually have dinner later.
• Non-alcoholic: a Crodino, a bitter-and-tonic without alcohol, a juice. Nobody looks at you strangely.

What it costs

In a neighbourhood bar, ten to twelve euros for a drink with the buffet. In the centre or in a hotel it rises to twenty or twenty-five, and the food is usually better but less abundant.

Students do a simple sum: twelve euros for a drink and a standing dinner, against twenty-five for a sit-down pizza. That is why Milan is the city where the aperitivo ate the dinner.

Where, without going to the centre

The centre has the beautiful venues and centre prices. But aperitivo began as a neighbourhood ritual, and it still works best in neighbourhoods: you walk there, you meet the people who live around you, and at midnight you walk home without a metro.

Around Città Studi and piazzale Loreto there are dozens of bars with buffets pitched at students. In Bicocca, the places around the campus fill from six and empty when the show starts at the Arcimboldi. Isola, two M5 stops from Bicocca, has in recent years become Milan's aperitivo district — pricier, prettier, busier.

Three things worth knowing

You don't wander the room eating off a plate. You serve yourself and go back to your table.

There is no cover charge, and a tip is not expected: service is in the price. Leaving the coins is a gesture, not an obligation.

In summer everyone is outside. From May to September aperitivo is a pavement affair, and outdoor tables are taken from six.

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