It is considered the oldest ice cream parlour in Europe still in operation and among the oldest in the world. Its location is truly regal, in an elegant historic square in front of the Baroque façade of Palazzo Carignano, where the first king of Italy was born and where the first Parliament of the Nation convened; next to the ice cream parlour there is the entrance to the eighteenth-century Teatro Carignano: this is why it is a favourite destination for those who attend the prose theatre.
The name of the restaurant preserves the memory of its founder: Domenico Pepino, who in 1884 moved his "Vera Gelateria Napoletana" from Naples to Turin. It was the Cavagnino family, still at the helm of the ice cream parlour, that acquired the brand and the exclusive preparations of Pepino in 1916. Since 1929, the location has been the current one, in Piazza Carignano.
Among the products proposed by Pepino, the most famous is the "Penguin", patented and marketed since the late 1930s, the first covered ice cream on a stick in the world: the "Penguin" of Pepino, in short, is today as in the past a classic of "Turin".
Pepino ice cream parlour has achieved many official recognitions in its centuries-old history, until its inclusion in 2022 in the international network "Historic Cafes Route".
The internal room of the ice cream parlour is as sober as it is elegant: it smells of the 1900s, with its wooden cladding and its mirrors, under which the velvet sofas stand. The restaurant is not only an ice cream parlour, but also satisfies the needs of international visitors with drinks, sweet and savoury foods at different times of the day.
