Camparino has been at the entrance of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II since 1867, which gives it a position that no subsequent opening could claim. The bar occupies the ground floor of the Galleria's south-west corner: red marble counter, mosaic floor, and the vaulted iron-and-glass arcade visible through the tall arched windows. The Campari Spritz was not invented here, but it is served here with a precision that the rest of the city is measured against. The aperitivo hour — from six to eight — is when the bar operates at the register for which it was designed: the Galleria lamps coming on, the evening beginning, the Campari in a stemmed glass on the red marble counter.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy