“Equal parts forever“
The Negroni cocktail, it’s one century old and still among the best drinks, and the top ones, loved and well know around the world. Last year the prestigious magazine “ Drinks International” ranked it number two behind the “The Old fashioned” and before “the Manhattan”.
It was in Florence, in Via Tornabuoni, which is still today the main and most trendy street in Florence, that the Negroni was born named after the Count Camillo Negroni.
At the end of the ‘800, in the Florentine cafes the gentleman used to meet in the late afternoon for the so called
“Vermouth and Bitter hour”. From that it came the “Americano”, a blend of Vermouth and Bitter, still very appreciated. Then between 1917-1920, at Bar Giacosa in Via Tornabuoni, 83 , the Count Camillo Negroni asked the barman Fosco Scarselli to strenghten his Americano adding some gin, and that’s how the famous drink was born, at the beginning it was called “the Americano at the Count Negroni’s way” , but was soon to become the celebrated, famous till today, Negroni cocktail, the most aristocratic one and the most famous Italian cocktail together with the Bellini.
Many famous people loved the Negroni, like Orson Welles or Ian Fleming ( the James Bond creator) that talked about the Negroni in his book “Risiko “ in 1960.
In the 50’s in the USA it was the preferred drink in the so called “transition bar” , the bars inside the railways stations.
And in the movie “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” from a novel by Tennessee Williams , the protagonist in a transition bar asked for a “wonderful Negroni to forget and to open up to young loves”.
Luca Picchi a well know and famous bartender from Florence, wrote in 2015 a second book on the Negroni :
“Negroni cocktail. An italian legend” . The book is very pleasant and interesting, and reading it we discover not only how and where the legend started. If you love the Negroni, and you want to know more about Florence in those days, you should definitely read the book.
If you want to make your own Negroni at home, you are to serve it on a tumbler, an old fashioned glass, short and wide which is perfect for a drink on the rocks, and the ingredients are :
- 1/3 (3 cl) gin
- 1/3 (3 cl) bitter Campari
- 1/3 (3 cl) red vermouth
- A slice of orange
You are to prepare it directly in the glass, where you first put the ice, then after you have drained the water, you pour all the ingredients in the glass and then you stir and mix well. At the end you add on top a slice of orange.
If instead you want to drink one of the best Negroni in town , we suggest you go to Harry’s Bar.
From La Dolce Vita :: by Cinzia Azzerboni