La Drogheria

La Drogheria sits on the vast arcaded Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the largest square in Turin and the focus of much of the city's evening life, where Piedmont's capital meets the Po and the bridge across to the Gran Madre church. The bar is a long-standing fixture of the piazza's aperitivo scene, with an eclectic, deliberately mismatched interior of vintage armchairs, sofas, old lamps and bric-a-brac that gives it a living-room feel quite different from the city's grander historic cafes. The format is the classic Turin apericena: from early evening a single drink buys access to a generous buffet of pasta, focaccia, vegetables, cured meats and other dishes, turning the aperitivo into a light dinner. The crowd is broad and lively, mixing students, young professionals and visitors, and the mood grows busier as the evening goes on, with resident and guest DJs playing easy, danceable sets later into the night, so the venue shifts from relaxed early aperitivo to a fuller bar-and-music atmosphere. Drinks centre on spritzes, Negronis and other cocktails alongside wine and beer, with cocktails generally around 8 to 10 euros and the buffet included with a drink during aperitivo hours; there is no cover charge. There is no strict dress code and the feel is casual and sociable. La Drogheria opens daily from around aperitivo time until late, with weekends the busiest nights and the tables out on the piazza filling first in warm weather. Its position on Piazza Vittorio, within easy walk of the Quadrilatero Romano, the Murazzi del Po riverside and Via Po leading up from Piazza Castello, makes it a natural starting point for an evening out in central Turin, equally suited to a quick apericena before dinner or a longer night that drifts into DJ sets.