This ought to be your mainstay social scene. The aperitivo is a wonderful thing. It can get a dinner (though stuffing yourself with appetizers doesn’t satisfy every night, it can be a good thing to do a couple times a week) and a drink at a fixed price that, at its lowest, beats any restaurant. It’s been mentioned before, but here we’ll look at it a little more closely and I’ll give you a few recommendations.
The aperitivo, Wikipedia says, might have started in Turin in the late 18th century, when vermouth was invented here. Since then, or since whenever it started, it has evolved and changed, and there are a million different kinds of aperitvo that you can find, different venues, different prices, different specialities.
Caffé 500, at Via Genova and Spezia, is your typical low-end aperitivo. At 3 Euros, you won’t find anything cheaper. Now, the cocktails aren’t enormous, but they’re not miniature or anything. At this café, at least, I’d suggest the red wine. If, as I did, you frequent this café (or probably any café with aperitivo), you’ll get perks. At Caffé 500 the appetizers are cheeses, breads and spreads, and mini pizzas. But, when I had gone there a few times, and when I brought a friend of mine, Donato told us to sit down at a table and he brought out hot appetizers until we could eat no more.
Diwan Café is a typical mid-range aperitivo. It’s located on Via Giuseppe Baretti near Via Madama Christina, an easy bus- or metro-ride for anyone living off Via Genova or Via Madama Christina. For 6 Euros, I got a big glass of dolcetto d’alba (my go-to Piedmontese red wine) and, as at any aperitivo, unlimited food. Café Diwan’s food is far superior to Caffé 500’s. At Diwan, there are (sometimes) warm or hot dishes, and more importantly, there’s meat. Meat! Meat is something amazing for any college student—that’s not a vegetarian. Diwan has a little more of a chic atmosphere, too, than Caffé 500. Diwan, to me, represents the ideal aperitivo, in terms of price, atmosphere, and food selection; the location, too, is splendid for those living in midtown or near school. Café Blah Blah on Via Po is another option similar to Diwan Café. Café Blah Blah is 7 Euros.
Now we go to the city center. Shore (located at Piazza Emanuele Filiberto 10) is a cocktail bar that puts out a big buffet of foods for aperitivo, though when I went the food was all cold. There were some pasta dishes, some potato dishes, and some meat dishes. Shore, being closer to the social center of Turin, costs about 9 Euros; the cocktails are bigger, and you’ll find a wider range of drinks here. Shore is worth a visit, but it’s a trip to get there and 9 Euros could buy you a beer and a pizza at the right pizzeria.
All in all, the aperitivo is ideal for a large group or a small group, or even by yourself to get to know the proprietors of a place near you. For those romantically inclined, bringing a date to an aperitivo (especially a sexy place like Shore) is both economically efficient and authentically Torinese.
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