Cocktail Daily – Campari Seltz | Camparino in Galleria, Milan

Located at the entrance to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, just steps from Milan’s Piazza del Duomo, Camparino in Galleria is one of the city’s most celebrated historic bars and a landmark of Milanese aperitivo culture.

Its story begins in 1867, when Gaspare Campari, founder of the Campari brand, opened Caffè Campari inside the newly built arcade. In 1915, his son Davide Campari established Camparino in Galleria nearby, carrying the family’s bitters and café heritage into a more casual setting built around everyday social rituals.

The bar’s most distinctive space is Bar di Passo, on the ground floor. Much of its early 20th-century Italian Art Nouveau character remains intact, from the wooden counter and decorative mosaics to the craftsmanship of its original interior details.

In 2019, Lissoni Associati oversaw a renovation that preserved the historic character of Bar di Passo while updating the upstairs Sala Spiritello and introducing Sala Gaspare Campari on the lower level. Together, these spaces bring different aspects of the Campari experience under one roof, from traditional aperitivos to contemporary cocktails and brand heritage.

Yet the most compelling reason to visit is the standing-bar tradition that continues at Bar di Passo.

Unlike cocktail bars where guests typically settle into a seat and wait for table service, standing at the counter is part of the experience here. Drinks are more affordable than with seated service, and small bites are available alongside them. Guests gather around the bar, order a Campari Seltz, exchange a few words, and move on with their day.

What makes the experience memorable is how naturally this everyday ritual belongs within such a historic setting.

Standing at the century-old counter, surrounded by original mosaics and woodwork, with other guests gathered shoulder to shoulder over their aperitivos, it is easy to imagine the atmosphere of an old European salon, where conversation and social encounters unfolded over drinks. The appeal goes beyond the vintage interiors. This way of drinking remains part of the bar’s daily life.

Campari and soda can be enjoyed almost anywhere in the world. At Bar di Passo, however, the familiar combination takes on a different meaning.

Campari Seltz

Campari / Pressurized Soda Water

Served at Camparino since 1915, Campari Seltz remains one of Bar di Passo’s signature drinks. The official recipe calls for one part Campari to three parts seltz, with no additional spirits, syrups, or flavoring ingredients.

What distinguishes it from a conventional Campari and soda is not the recipe itself, but the way it is prepared.

When Camparino opened, it introduced a dedicated soda-water system that delivered pressurized seltz directly from the cellar to the bar. Rather than opening a bottle of soda water, the bartender uses a dedicated seltz tap to dispense it straight into the glass.

Another defining detail is that Campari Seltz is served without ice.

While a typical Campari and soda is built over ice, Camparino uses a pre-chilled, slender stemmed glass, cold Campari, and pressurized seltz. With no ice in the glass, there is no gradual dilution from melting cubes. Instead, the drink’s temperature and texture depend on its initial proportions, chilling, and carbonation.

During preparation, the bartender directs the pressurized seltz into the center of the glass. The force of the water creates a dense layer of tiny bubbles, producing the delicate pale-pink foam that has become a signature of Campari Seltz.

The vivid red liquid, clear ice-free glass, and generous foam give the drink an appearance distinct from a conventional sparkling cocktail. The foam also contributes to its texture, creating a contrast between the softer first contact and the more pronounced carbonation of the liquid beneath.

In terms of flavor, Campari’s familiar citrus, bitter orange peel, and herbal notes remain at the center. The seltz does not introduce a new flavor profile. Instead, dilution, temperature, and carbonation influence how the drink’s bitterness and sweetness are perceived. Without melting ice, its progression in the glass also differs from that of a conventional long drink served over ice.

There is another interesting chapter in this story, one that connects Campari to the history of Italian design.

In 1932, Davide Campari collaborated with Futurist artist Fortunato Depero to introduce the pre-mixed, bottled Campari Soda. Depero created the distinctive small, cone-shaped glass bottle without a conventional paper label, a design that would become one of Campari’s most recognizable visual signatures.

Although both drinks share the same fundamental combination of Campari and soda water, they represent different approaches to serving it. Bottled Campari Soda made the mixture available as a ready-to-drink product, while Camparino’s Campari Seltz preserves the ritual of dispensing pressurized soda, creating the foam, and preparing each drink fresh at the bar.

After actually tasting it, however, the most memorable aspect is not some dramatic transformation in flavor brought about by these techniques.

At its heart, it is still a familiar Campari and soda.

What changes the experience is where you drink it.

At the historic Bar di Passo, surrounded by Italian Art Nouveau interiors, guests stand together, talk, and enjoy their drinks while bartenders continue pouring Campari Seltz after Campari Seltz. These details turn an otherwise widely available cocktail into an experience that is difficult to recreate elsewhere.

Perhaps that is what makes Camparino so compelling. It does not need to reinvent this classic. Instead, it allows visitors to rediscover it in the same historic setting, through a drinking tradition that has endured for generations.

Tasting Notes

Aroma: Familiar notes of citrus, bitter orange peel, and herbs define Campari’s aromatic profile. With no additional flavoring ingredients, the expression remains classic and straightforward.

Palate: At its core, this is still the familiar combination of Campari’s bittersweet character and refreshing soda water. Camparino’s chilled, ice-free preparation and pressurized seltz give the drink its distinctive presentation and texture without fundamentally changing its recognizable flavor.

Finish: Campari’s citrus and herbal bitterness carry through, balanced by the refreshing character of the soda water. Rather than offering elaborate flavor transitions, the finish stays true to the direct, recognizable appeal of a classic Italian aperitivo.

Overall: What makes this Campari Seltz memorable is not how dramatically different it tastes from versions served elsewhere, but how the surroundings transform the experience. Standing at Bar di Passo’s century-old counter, sharing the space with other guests, enjoying a few small bites, and taking part in Milan’s enduring standing-bar tradition make this familiar cocktail a compelling reason to visit Camparino in person.