Baratti & Milano (est. 1858)
Founded in 1858, confectionery Baratti & Milano was a prestigious meeting place for personalities in science, politics, and art: it is enough to remember Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, Quintino Sella, Guido Gozzano … all witnesses of the elegant artistically furnished halls and the thousand goodness that Baratti & Milano used to offer.
After more than 160 years the chocolate shop and cafeteria is still one of the most elegant meeting places in Turin, one of the most beautiful and prestigious historical venues in Italy, the place from which the evolutionary process that led today to be Baratti & Milano has originated important industrial reality. Although over a century and a half has passed, the company’s philosophy has always remained the same, faithful to its origins, tradition, and quality.
Queen Marie and King Ferdinand of Romania. Image credit Wikimedia Commons
The history:
The famous Caffè Baratti & Milano owes its name to two confectioners from the region of Canavese in Piedmont: Ferdinando Baratti, a native of Piverone, and Edoardo Milano, a native of Bollengo.
Moving to the Turin in 1858, they opened a confectionery and pastry shop in via Dora Grossa 43, the current via Garibaldi, destined to become one of the most renowned brands in the Piedmontese and Italian confectionery industry. It was therefore Ferdinando Baratti who created the famous cremino which later became with the gianduiotto one of the great classics among Italian chocolates.
Given the growing success, in 1875 Baratti & Milano decided to move more downtown, to the premises in the brand new Galleria Subalpina, just inaugurated. The Cafe-Restaurant soon became a coveted meeting place for the bourgeoisie and intellectuals such as D’Azeglio, Giolitti and Luigi Einaudi.
Its success grew to the point of being awarded the title of “Official supplier of the Royal House”.
The Cafe-Restaurant, as it currently appears, is the result of the first reconstruction following the expansion in 1909, built on a project by Giulio Casanova and Pietro Fenoglio, with the collaboration of the sculptor Edoardo Rubino for the interiors.
The result is a very elegant environment characterized by an extensive use of mirrors, marbles, bronzes, gilding, stuccoes and mosaics that give the Caffè Baratti & Milano a rich architectural and artistic profile, so much so that it is the protagonist of various citations in the literary field, as well as a sophisticated setting for film shoots.
In 1948 the Cafe-Restaurant reopened its doors, after a careful restoration, following the damage caused by the bombings in 1944; in 1985 the Ministry of Cultural Heritage placed the constraint of historical protection on the premises and furnishings.
After some corporate restructuring of Baratti & Milano that occurred over time, the brand of the famous sweets “Barattine” and the place itself first passed to the Venetian confectionery group “Toulà” and, in 2003, to the Novi group, which also financed the last conservative restoration completed the following year.
TURIN, ITALY
Baratti & Milano
Piazza Castello, 27
10123 Torino
Tel: +39 011 4407138
Info: info@barattiemilano.it
Facebook: Caffè Baratti & Milano
