Piano 35

Thirty-five floors up, inside Renzo Piano's 166-metre glass tower at Corso Inghilterra 3, sits the highest dining room in Italy. On a clear night the full crescent of the Alps runs the length of the window, Monte Rosa to Monviso, with the Mole Antonelliana below and the Superga basilica across the valley. The view is the easy part. Whether the kitchen earns the elevator ride is the real question, and Michelin has answered it since November 2020: one star, held into the 2026 guide, five years running.

Marco Sacco sets the direction. He holds two stars at Piccolo Lago on Lake Mergozzo and runs Piano35 as a Piedmont-and-Italy argument, not a view restaurant that happens to plate food. Christian Balzo is the resident chef, in the kitchen every service. The signature is the Carbonara au Koque: house egg tagliolini, Val Vigezzo dried ham in place of guanciale, the yolk bound with gin, milk wafers over the top. Twenty-six euros. It is the dish that tells you whether the rest is serious. It is.

Two tasting routes carry the menu, In Piemonte and Giro d'Italia, alongside a plant-led itinerary at around 140 euros. The cellar runs deep on Piedmont and pours premium bottles by the glass through Coravin. Service is quiet and well-drilled, which matters at this altitude, where lesser rooms coast on the windows.

The eastern window at sunset is the table everyone wants, roughly 19:45 in summer and 17:15 in winter. Ask for it two weeks out.

The room is built for the question. The elevator climb, the pause as the Alps fill the glass, the low light, the sunset over the mountains. Ask for a western window for the clearest Alpine line, and tell the maître d' in advance whether you want the ring brought between courses or left to you. The staff have done this before and will not hover. Book the eastern or western window two weeks out and time the reservation to land at sunset.

Skip Piano35 if the view is all you want. It sits inside a working bank headquarters, the approach is corporate lobby and a security desk, and a casual rooftop bar at sunset will scratch that itch for a fraction of 140 euros. Come for Sacco's cooking, or do not come.

Is Piano35 worth it? Yes, if you come for the food and not only the altitude. The one Michelin star has held since 2020, Marco Sacco's Carbonara au Koque is a genuine signature, and the Alpine sunset from the eastern window is the best in Turin. Treat the view as a bonus, not the reason.

How hard is it to book Piano35? Book directly through piano35.com or by phone, ideally two to three weeks ahead for a window table at sunset and longer for weekends and the Christmas season. The thirty-fifth-floor room is small and the prime tables go first. Tell them if you are proposing; the staff are used to it.

What is the dress code at Piano35? Smart, with a jacket preferred for men at dinner. This is a bank-tower dining room, not a beach club, so leave the shorts and trainers behind. Nobody will turn you away in a clean open collar, but you will feel underdressed at the window tables when the sun goes down.

How much does dinner at Piano35 cost? Plan on roughly 70 to 140 euros a head before wine. The plant-led tasting runs about 140 euros, the In Piemonte and Giro d'Italia routes sit in the same range, and signatures like the Carbonara au Koque are around 26 euros à la carte. Wine by the glass via Coravin adds up fast.