Bars in Milan with a flair for aperitivo

Milan’s vivacious culture of social drinking is so embedded in the city’s identity that it’s referenced in its own epithet: Milano da bere. Aperitivo was born here, Davide Campari, who turned the ruby-red aperitif into a Milanese icon, is buried in the city center, and the Fernet factory still operates in the northernmost part of the city.

After work, every weekend, and at the slightest hint of sunshine, Milanese spill onto sidewalks and into parks. Glasses range from something simple – a Chianti, a spritz – to misty, unfiltered orange wines and cocktails crafted with scientific precision. Aperitivo doesn’t have just one look; from historic bottiglierie to sleek hotel lounges and experimental distilleries, the ritual plays out across the city.

Continue your evening at one of Milan’s leading restaurants, and finish up at a gorgeous boutique hotel.

Bars in central Milan

Bottiglieria Bulloni

Best For: Old-school Italian spot for street-side spritzes
Location: Via Lipari, 2, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
Price:$$

Nestled between the San Vittore prison and the residential neighborhood of Wagner, red-striped awnings and vintage Campari signs mark this storied bottle shop, with nearly a century of history. Bulloni is open morning to night, for Milanese classics like risotto al salto, and drinks. On a daytime visit you’re bound to encounter a retiree having their 11am bianchina, a small glass of champagne to start the day. By evening, the cozy locale, lined with dark wooden shelves, is packed with guests anxiously awaiting spritzes that barmen shake up in front of a fresco by Enrico Prampolini, the Italian Futurist artist. Bulloni is one of the few spots where a conversation at aperitivo hour doesn’t involve raising your voice or fighting for a seat.

Rumore at Portrait Milano

Best For: One of Milan’s most happening hotel bars
Location: Corso Venezia, 11, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$$

Leopard-patterned chairs and a glinting disco ball frame the stage at Rumore, the live-music lounge of the Portrait Milano hotel. Blending the riotous atmosphere of a speakeasy with classic Milanese sophistication, you might see a swinging jazz band one night and a DJ set the next. The drinks are undeniably expensive, but justified by an impressive collection of spirits and the bartenders’ precise, nearly technical approach to mixology. Though a Frost Martini can cost 60 EUR, the evening’s atmosphere and momentum makes it well worth the splurge.

Tripstillery Portanuova

Best For: Sipping the distillery’s gin followed by a tour
Location: Piazza Alvar Aalto, 20124 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

Part-cafe, part-bar, and part-micro distillery, this bright all day spot brings an experimental edge to Milan’s cocktail scene. Tripstillery sits in the shadows of three of the few skyscrapers in Milan, where the team distills its own gin and amaro on site, tinkering with flavours like vanilla and hazelnut. Creations are used to make highly delicate cocktails or bottle up spirits wrapped in punchy graphic labels. In the micro-distillery, you can not only get a tour, but make your own gin with a personalised recipe to take home.

Bars in North Milan

Deposito Enoteca

Best For: Natural wine with vegetarian-leaning sides
Location: Via Felice Casati, 1, 20124 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$

Though it’s right off the main street of Porta Venezia, Deposito Enoteca maintains an air of sophisticated ease. Red brick walls and stainless steel shelves stacked three bottles deep with natural wines from every corner of the world give the place the feeling of a working cellar, while half-broken cardboard boxes from the latest shipment sit tucked into the corner. The flow of wine is accompanied by a selection of light bites: classics like cheese and salumi vie for attention with the vegetable section, such as grilled lettuce and egg yolk showered in pecorino shavings.

BoB

Best For: Experimental cocktails and Xiaolongbao
Location: Via Pietro Borsieri, 30, 20159 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

Brothers Luca and Michele Hu bring East Asian flair to Milan’s cocktail scene at BoB. Zany concoctions and Asian-leaning plates make it the go-to spot for something stronger than a spritz. Nearly every drink features a smoked or clarified element, though never in a way that feels pretentious.

The bar sits on the main drag of Isola, aptly translating to “island,” as the young neighbourhood is set apart from the rest of the city by rail lines and a bridge. BoB itself is overflowing at nearly every hour, with people pairing bright blue cocktails with dumplings and bao. For something quieter, step next door to The Other Side, a more intimate space for experimental drinks.

Enoteca La Botte Fatale

Best For: An alt-rock natural wine bar with local art exhibits
Location: Via Giuseppe Giacosa, 11, 20127 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$

At La Botte, library shelves, complete with a rolling ladder, are stocked with bottles instead of books. On the opposite wall, three large stainless steel tanks contain homemade red, white and rosè, which flow directly from tap to glass for 3 EUR. The bar is in NoLo, north of Loreto, where locals gather to clink glasses, catch DJ sets, and check out Spazio Bidet, the front window that the art-loving owner converted into a small exhibition space. It’s the kind of place where scrappy students, longtime locals and visitors end up sharing stories at the same table.

Norah Was Drunk

Best For: 1920s style absinthe fountains
Location: Via Nicola Antonio Porpora, 169, 20131 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

Tucked beneath the railway lines in the often-overlooked neighborhood of Lambrate, a cocktail bar marked only by a glowing neon sign is working to revive the old-world glamour of absinthe. To serve, a stainless steel fountain from the 1920s adds theatrical flair: water drips slowly over a sugar cube above a cut-crystal glass filled with the vibrant elixir. Enhance the experience further with oysters on the side.

For those not enticed by the hallucinatory frivolity of the early 1900s, a list of signature cocktails is also available inside the bar’s aptly green walls. Lambrate’s reputation is as raucous as the drink itself.

Bar Basso

Best For: Drinking a goblet of Negroni Sbagliato in its birthplace
Location: Bar Basso, via Plinio 39, Milano
Price: $$$

The story goes that in 1972 barman Mirko Stocchetto grabbed a bottle of prosecco, rather than gin, while preparing a Negroni for a customer. Thus, the Sbagliato was born and Bar Basso was shot into fame. Bar Basso is even credited for starting aperitivo in Milan, one of the city’s most iconic traditions. Now, men in crisp suits and white bow ties serve up the Sbagliato, regular or supersized and served in glassware specially designed for the new cocktail, along with 500 other drinks in their list. Crowds flood into the roundabout and the design community of Milan gathers under fluorescent red light. During Milan’s many fashion and design weeks, the sidewalk becomes the city’s afterparty.

Da Orient

Best For: Vintage shopping followed by a Bloody Mary
Location: Viale Montello, 8, 20154 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$

Bright Bauhaus interiors, retro furnishings and racks of vintage clothing set the scene for a DJ-set driven aperitivo hour at Da Orient. Whether immersed indoors or spilling onto the street, the lively crowd can coax a smile from even the most Milanese of guests. The bar is renowned for its crimson Bloody Marys, rivaled only in vibrancy by the ruby-red walls. The corner concept store is next to Chinatown, so you can easily continue your night at one of the many bars along Via Paolo Sarpi.

Bars in south Milan

Si Ma Townhouse

Best For: A house party vibe
Location: Corso di Porta Vigentina, 12, 20122 Milano
Price: $$$

Si Ma is a narrow, multi-story townhouse always packed with an international crowd sipping classic cocktails in slinky stemware. The near flashlight-worthy lighting makes the ground floor a perfect spot for an intimate date, while the first floor’s communal table draws groups looking to gather off the busy main street of the city center. As the night wears on, guests run up and down the stairwell sharing gossip and swapping drinks. And Sina, the co-founder and your host for the evening, makes sure the vibes are as eccentric and electric as the bar deserves.

Lubna

Best For: Inventive cocktails after a visit to Fondazione Prada
Location: Via Vezza d’Oglio, 14, 20139 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

Lubna is light-drenched, fun-loving little sister to the much-respected Moebius. Named after the anime projected on the back wall, the sprawling bar sits just down the street from Fondazione Prada, in the industrial Scalo Porta Romana district. Housed in a former warehouse, cement floors and high ceilings are warmed up by the open-fire barbecue, pumping out grilled lasagna and cocktails all night. Yes, grilled cocktails; like the Peanut and Rosemary, amplified by lemongrass and rosemary freshly charred over flame. Music is also a strong focus, with vinyl records are played on a vintage turntable.

e/n enoteca naturale

Best For: The largest natural wine cellar in the city
Location: Via Santa Croce, 19/a, 20122 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

In a city that can be grey and chaotic at times, e/n enoteca naturale is the antidote: a verdant courtyard hidden behind church walls, providing the perfect place for a sip of wine and a long exhale. Often credited with kickstarting the natural wine movement in Milan, today the team presides over a collection of more than 4,000 labels. They are committed to ethical sourcing and have become a leader in the natural, organic, and biodynamic wine world. After vintage shopping down Ticinese’s main street, locals gather in their leafy green space for open-air movies, day parties, or events supporting charity neighbour, Emergency. Their collaborative Wine for Peace initiatives have been recognised by the UN for their support of refugees and migrants.

Bar Quadronno

Best For: Pressed sandwiches and prosecco, beloved by the creative set
Location: Via Quadronno, 34, 20122 Milano
Price: $

Bar Quadronno, the city’s first late-night sandwich and cocktail shop born in the ‘60s, follows the mentality of “if it ain’t broke…”. This bar has lacquered wood walls, too-bright lighting, and stools packed with everyone from the sidewalks to the runways alike. Lunchers pair a porchetta panini with a glass of prosecco, while late-night guests start the evening with beers and classic cocktails, all under the watchful eye of a boar head mounted high on the wall. A historic haunt for fashion’s famous, Quadronno has seen the likes of Miuccia Prada, and Matthieu Blazy even named a bag after the spot during his time as Bottega Veneta’s creative director.

Bar Paradiso

Best For: Splitting a bottle amongst fashion’s who’s who
Location: Via Gerolamo Tiraboschi, 4, 20135 Milano MI, Italy
Price: $$$

This jewelbox-sized shop focuses solely on wine. The tables are few, so young creative directors from Milan’s fashion and design world spill out into the street. Bar Paradiso regularly collaborates with winemakers and chefs from around the world, with tastings held in the cellar, accessed through the trap door. Sophisticated paninis are pressed daily, using ingredients from local producers. Head around the corner to their NY-style slice shop, Bar Stella, for something a bit more substantial.