Photo by Kugelfish
After a busy day at sea or exploring museums or town centers it is time to relax, dress up and go out to dinner. But just before you need an aperitivo - a drink usually served with nibbles before dinner time. Its purpose is to give you an excuse to spend some more time with friends and open the palate before the assault of dinner.
Aperitivi can either be alcoholic or not (non alcoolici o analcolici) and should really be served with a range of accompanying nibbles. Based on the bar they can fare from simple potato crisps to complicated affairs with salami, cheese and even the occasional mini-bruschetta thrown it. The really good bars offer such a selection of nibbles that by the end of the aperitivo, dinner will be the last thing on your mind!
Here are three great Italian aperitivi to order:
Crodino
Crodino is the most widely available non-alcoholic drink and one you can't really go wrong with. It is produced in Piedmont and gets its distinctive taste from an extract drawn from a mix of infusion and distillated herbs, plants and fruit pieces. The exact ingredients and measures are, it goes without saying, a well-kept secret.
Negroni Sbagliato
The Negroni cocktail is made of 1 part gin, 1 part sweet vermouth, and 1 part bitters, traditionally Campari. It was originally invented by a French, General Pascal Olivier Count de Negroni and it is very popular in Italy. However, if you really want to impress your Italian friends order a Negroni Sbagliato (wrong Negroni) - this replaces the gin with Spumante, making the drink even more Italian, lighter and more fun! It was invented in Bar Basso in Milano.
Bellini
The Bellini is arguably the most well-know Italian coctail. Invented in the 19302 by Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry's Bar in Venice, it gets its name from the connection its inventor made between the pink color of a Bellini and the toga of a saint in a painting by 15th-century Venetian artist Giovani Bellini.
The Bellini consists of puréed white peaches and Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine. You may well get it with yellow peaches at several bars though as white peaches are not always easy to come by - the taste is always great nevertheless.
So there you have it - three Italian aperitivi that will get you Italian summer night started in just the right way.
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