Visitors who arrive in Italy looking for an American-style gentlemen’s club usually find something else. Italy does not really have a “strip club” category in the US sense. What it has instead are night club, lap dance and sexy disco venues, and the Italian trade itself draws a line between them: in a lap dance club or sexy disco there are pole and stage shows performed topless or in lingerie, while in a classic Italian night club that does not happen and the hostesses wear the kind of dressy outfits you would see in a normal club. Many venues also have a privé, a separate back room; in lap dance venues the privé is where the pole sessions of roughly ten to thirty minutes take place. The naming in the listings below reflects this — you will see “Night Club”, “Sexy Disco”, “Lap Dance” and “Club Privè” used as distinct labels rather than as synonyms.
Licensing and what “consumazione” actually means
These venues operate as places of public entertainment and are licensed by the comune, not by any national strip-club regime. For shows in a private place open to the public, two authorisations are normally involved: the public entertainment licence under articles 68–69 of the TULPS, and the article 80 TULPS agibilità certificate, which follows a safety inspection by the Vigilance Commission. If food and drink are served, a separate SCIA for food and beverage service plus the health notifications are required on top. There is also a tax angle that explains the labels: the SIAE copyright rate applied is 10% for a venue classed as a night club and 4% for a lap dance venue.
The money side works through consumazione — a drink purchase. In Italian night clubs, time spent with the hostesses is paid for by buying consumazioni, typically quoted at around €10–20 for roughly 15–20 minutes. A venue is allowed to impose a compulsory drink or a minimum spend, but only if it is communicated to the customer before entry, by a clearly visible sign at the door. Some places use a free-entry-plus-obligatory-drink model with a ticket handed over at the bar. Note that if staff physically prevent a customer from leaving over an unpresented ticket, that is not a permitted enforcement method — an unpaid consumazione is a civil contractual matter.
Milan
- Exotica — Via Nino Bonnet 11/A
- Blue Eyes — Via De Andreis 13, 20137
- Foca Loca — Via Baracchini 11, 20123
- Pupa Club — Corso Buenos Aires 33, 20124
- New Carrozzeria Club — Via Rosolino Pilo 10, 20129
- Pepenero Milano — Via Gallarate 224
- Extasia Disco Topless — Largo Augusto 7, central Milan
- Striptease — no street address listed
Rome
- Cica Cica Boom — Via Liguria 38, 00187
- Pipistrello Club — Via Emilia 27, 00187
- Poppea Club — Via Capo d’Africa 21/A, 00184
- Blue Night Strip Bar — Via S. Getullo 92, 00131
- Club Paradise — Via Lanciano 56, Rebibbia, 00156
Piedmont and the north-west
- Samara Vip — Via Giovanni Camerana 11, 10128 Turin
- Monella Lap Dance — S.S. Piacenza–Torino, San Nicolò, 29010 Rottofreno
- Pinocchio — Piazza Urbano Prunotto 3/A, Alba (CN)
- Piper Night Club — Provinciale 31, Verzuolo (CN)
Emilia-Romagna, the Adriatic coast and Veneto
- Pepenero Night Club Sexy Disco — Viale Sardegna 30, Riccione
- Riche Monde Cabaret — Via Gambalunga 93, 47900 Rimini
- Bulli & Pupe One — Via Fornace 6, Castelvetro Piacentino, Piacenza
- Armony — Via Argine Diversivo 226, Montemerlo di Bondeno
- Club Privè Bollino Rosso — Via Adamello 4, 37069 Villafranca di Verona
Central and southern Italy
- Excelsior Sexy Disco — Via Pistoiese 185, San Donnino, Campi Bisenzio
- Miami Sexy Disco — Via Cannegge snc, 60031 Castelplanio (AN)
- Rose My Club — Via Chiatamone 21/22, 80121 Naples
- Showgirls Fasano — Via dell’Energia, 72015 Fasano (BR)
What to check before you go
- Read the sign at the door. A compulsory drink or minimum spend is only validly imposed if it is posted visibly at the entrance before you go in. If there is no notice, ask at the door what entry includes.
- Ask what a consumazione buys. Since time with a hostess is sold as drinks — commonly in the €10–20 range for 15–20 minutes — confirm the price and the duration before ordering, and again before moving to the privé.
- Check which kind of venue it is. “Night club”, “sexy disco” and “lap dance” are not interchangeable in Italy and describe different formats. Milan and Rome have the largest concentrations; elsewhere many venues sit on provincial roads outside town, so plan transport.