Vinatage Carpano Drinks Poster, Italian Bar Print
Punt e Mes — literally "a point and a half" in Piedmontese dialect, referring to its balance of sweetness and bitterness — is one of the most distinctive and beloved aperitivos in the Italian canon. When Armando Testa created this poster in 1949, the product was already a Turin institution, but Testa's graphic treatment gave it a fresh and modern visual identity that would carry it confidently into the second half of the twentieth century.
The Making of an Italian Icon
The story of Punt e Mes's name is itself a piece of living Turin folklore: it is said to have been coined in the stock exchange café near the Carpano shop, where a broker ordering his usual vermouth with a half-measure of bitters shouted across the room for "un punt e mes." The phrase stuck, the product was named, and Carpano gained one of the most instantly memorable brand names in Italian drinks history. Testa's 1949 poster captures...
