The Bar Journal

“In 1926, Mrs. Angela Demichelis Nebiolo, invented the tramezzino.”

In 1925, Angela and her husband, an expat couple from Turin that moved to the United States, returned home, and acquired from Mulassano family what it is still considered the historic Cafe’ of Turin par excellence, in Piazza Castello.

They renovated the menu, introducing new dishes they discovered in the States: the toast, a special sandwich made with a machine for toasting bread that they brought back to Italy with them; and a new kind of sandwich, which, it seems, was renamed “Tramezzino” by Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, no less!
Beware, though: tramezzino and sandwich are very different: in fact, the bread used for the first one is pancarr è (in English, “toasting/sandwich loaf”).

Since then, this particular sandwich has evolved to the point of becoming extremely popular not only in Turin, but everywhere in Italy, where it is usually served with a glass of Vermouth!

Mulassano, in its 31 square meters of history, mirrors and cabinets in Piazza Castello, continues proudly to carry on its tradition: the café’s delicious house aperitif is still based on Piedmont Vermouth Bianco or Rosolio delle Alpi.
One last historical note: the sandwich, from which tramezzino originally comes from, was not born in America, but in England: when he was busy playing, avid gambler John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich, used to ask for his roast to be served between two slices of bread, in order to avoid interrupting the game. Since then, the fashion spread among the other players, who wanted to eat “the same as Sandwich”.
SALUTE!
GIUSEPPE GALLO