Rub Shoulders With the Ultras in Torino’s No-Frills Bar that is Full of Passion

Torino fans are often derided as prisoners of the past. While their crosstown neighbours have been busy hoovering up trophies ever since they were founded, the Granata have always felt like a club looking back through misty eyes.

In June 2026 it will be 33 years since they last lifted silverware. In the intervening decades the club has gone bankrupt, started again and returned to the site of its last Scudetto victory, the Stadio Comunale.

Renamed as Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino following the 2006 Winter Olympics, the ground feels like home in a way the Stadio Delle Alpi never did.

Speak to anyone of a Granata persuasion, however, and they will argue their real home is a 15-minute walk down from the Grande Torino, in Via Filadelfia in the Lingotto district of the city.

It was here that Torino played their home games between 1926 and 1958, before moving across the road to the Comunale five years later. And it is here that you will find the Sweet Cafe, the heartbeat of Granata fandom in the city.

Directly across the road from the old Filadelfia – which was partially demolished in 1998 and has since been rebuilt to host Torino’s training facilities and a museum – this is not just a bar that happens to be close to a football ground.

This is a bar whose entire raison d’etre is football. From its Sweet Toro signage on the shop front, to the stickers that cover most of the walls outdoors and inside, stepping into Sweet Cafe is like entering a sacred place for the Granata.

Pictures of the Grande Torino team – arguably Italy’s finest ever side, who played at the Filadelfia and who were tragically wiped out by the 1949 air disaster – adorn the walls along with shots of Paolo Pulici and Francesco Graziani, the ‘Goal Twins’ of the 1976 Scudetto-winning team, and Emiliano Mondonico lifting the Coppa Italia in 1993.

There is an enormous bull head made of plasterboard, complete with nose ring, that used to stand on the running track under the Curva Maratona at the old Stadio Comunale.

On a busy matchday expect people to be sipping beers (a bottle of lager will set you back €3.50 to €4) or glasses of Barbera while bemoaning the fact Urbano Cairo has still not relinquished control of the club, and wondering why Torino cannot climb the table.

Arrive early enough and rub shoulders with the ultras as they mill outside before making their journey down to the ground. When Destination Calcio visited, a group of 10-15 had made themselves at home in the bar long before kick-off at the Olimpico. They kept to themselves but were more than happy to order a round of wine and grappa for us while quizzing us about the atmosphere at Premier League grounds.

Then it was back to business, namely ironing out the last details on some of their banners, which were rolled out on the footpath at the front, then packed away for the walk to the ground. Stay late enough after a game though and you will probably run into them again.

Much like Torino themselves, Sweet Cafe is no-frills and down to earth… but full of passion.