The Negroni is a classic — a refreshing, well-balanced aperitif that combines sweet and bitter flavors with a kick. Plus, its history reads like a sketch from The Dean Martin Show. What’s not to love?
Florence, Italy, 1920-ish… Count Camillo Negroni strolls into Bar Casoni for a drink. He wants an Americano (another drink with its own interesting history), but the combination of Campari, sweet vermouth, and soda water isn’t going to cut it. He tells the bartender to use gin in place of the soda water.
You see Camillo was something of a badass — at least in his own mind. He had spent time in the American West riding the range and, according to some accounts, even worked as a rodeo cowboy. When he returned to Italy, he still dressed the part.
Another version of the history credits a different member of the Negroni family — General Pascal Olivier de Negroni, Count de Negroni — with inventing the cocktail on the eve of WWI. However, most sources, including this book«Negroni»/dp/8888719164 hold up the Count Camillo story as the definitive history.
The Negroni soon rose in popularity around Italy, so much so that the Negroni family began bottling a pre-made version of the cocktail. In 1947, Orson Welles took it mainstream in the States when he endorsed it declaring, “The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.” Needless to say, this was one of Welles’ better endorsements.