Terrazza Martini

A historic Milanese rooftop opened by Martini & Rossi in 1958, on the 15th and 16th floors of Piazza Diaz, looking onto the Duomo and currently programmed as a private events venue.

Terrazza Martini opened on 5 June 1958 as Martini & Rossi’s gesture to a Milan that was rebuilding itself in glamour. It sits on the top two floors of the Piazza Diaz skyscraper, two blocks from the Duomo, where the city’s post-war boom decided the aperitivo should be taken above the traffic rather than at it. Wood floors, deep red Martini-branded sofas, a long curved bar, and a view that takes in the cathedral spires, the Torre Velasca, the Castello Sforzesco and, on the right evening, the Alps beyond the Lombard plain.

A useful clarification before you plan a Tuesday drink. Terrazza Martini today functions principally as a private events venue: a roughly 500-square-metre space split between a 15th-floor event floor and the 16th-floor rooftop, hired for brand launches, weddings and the occasional curated cocktail evening. Walk-in service is not its current model. If a press week, design fair or sponsored programme opens the doors during your visit, the address is unambiguously worth crossing town for; if not, the building’s heritage is best experienced through the events calendar.

For Luxa Terra, Terrazza Martini matters because it set the template the rest of Milan’s rooftop scene has spent six decades trying to match. The view, the brand polish, the post-war confidence of the room: this is the aperitivo in its original altitude. Check programming first, then take the lift.