Clinton Cawood’s latest cocktail odessy takes him to one of the proto Italian cocktail, the Milano Torino.
To have not only endured, intact, for more than a century and a half, but to have spawned some of the most popular cocktails over the intervening years too, is remarkable. That we know, with relative certainty, where this classic was born and who created it, is nothing short of miraculous.
In the absence of any competing theories, the Milano Torino, or Mi-To to its friends, was invented in the 1860s by Gaspare Campari at his Caffè Campari, on Milan’s Piazza del Duomo. His minimalist creation’s name describes the recipe too: equal parts of his eponymous bitter from the very same city, Milano, and sweet vermouth, typically from Italy’s Torino. Simple on paper, but these two flavourful elements both really pull their weight, with their long list of combined botanicals creating nothing short of alchemy.
If this synergy of Italian ingredients sounds familiar, it’s because this aperitivo led not only to the Americano, with the addition of some soda water to make it more palatable to tourists, but to the Negroni too, with a slug of gin to give it the kick that a certain notable Count demanded – if that story is to be believed. With the number of Negroni variations out there, and increasing all the time, the Milano Torino must be among the most successful and prolific of all classic cocktails.
Yet, in its original form, equal parts on the rocks in a tumbler with a slice of orange, it’s more than deserving of a place on contemporary cocktail lists, low in abv for the moderation minded, and with just as much visual appeal as the Negroni. Indeed, if served as a shot, it wouldn’t be out of place among the Ferraris, Maseratis and M&Ms of recent times – those inspired equal-part pairings of Fernet, Ramazzotti and more – it would just need a better pun name.
For a cocktail-history pilgrimage that culminates in a proper Milano Torino, there’s nowhere better than Milan’s Camparino in Galleria, opened by Gaspare’s son, Davide Campari, in 1915, and open to this day. Unlike its predecessor where the Mi-To has its origins, Davide’s bar was equipped with a system to supply soda on demand, ready to create Americanos and Campari & Sodas for its guests. But the humble Milano Torino remains on its list. The spec? As always, Campari and Vermouth di Torino Rosso.
Milano Torino (Caffè Campari, Milan)
Ingredients:
75ml Campari
75ml sweet vermouth
Glass: Tumbler
Garnish: Orange slice
Method: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and strain into ice-filled tumbler, or add ingredients to ice-filled tumbler and stir.