Page 118 - PROTAGONIST-123

NEGRONI THE CENTURY-OLD APERITIF

A nobleman and an aromatic wine from Northern Italy

(vermouth) created one of the most famous aperitifs in

the world.

1/3 sweet red vermouth, 1/3 bitters, 1/3 gin mixed together in an ice-cold glass filled with ice cubes and garnished with an orange
slice. It’s the recipe for a Negroni, one of the most famous cocktails in the world. Its history is completely Italian; it started along the
lines of the Milano-Torino and became legendary in Florence in 1919. We owe the birth of the Negroni to Count Camillo Negroni, a no-
bleman from Fiesole with a British mother, who enjoyed living the good life and spent most of his life between England and the United
States. “The Count,” explains the bartender Nicola Piazza, “had the habit of stopping every evening at the Café Casoni, a drugstore
and perfume shop, where he would always order an Americano from Fosco Scarselli, the precursor of today’s bartenders.” The Ame-
ricano for Count Negroni, however, was very particular and certainly stronger in terms of alcohol content. “The Count, who loved gin
because of his years spent abroad, added his beloved spirit instead of the normal soda water from the original recipe. This new version
of the Americano became very popular and soon many of the café’s customers started imitating the count (he could be considered a
sort of influencer of his time); this way of drinking Americanos with gin rather than soda water spread very fast and was named after
Count Camillo Negroni.” The Negroni traveled from Florence across the ocean and turned into one of the most appreciated cocktails
worldwide, inspiring several different twists, the most famous of which is the Negroni Sbagliato, with dry sparkling wine instead of gin.

116 Mixology Protagonist