Venice's Spritz Cocktail Tour
All Day, It's Venice in a Glass
Spritz, a florescent orange cocktail swilled by Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Diaghilev among the cloisters of the Piazza San Marco is romance in a glass. It's sparkling wine and a goofily orange liqueur - a little oily, a little sweet, a little bitter - like Love and, of course, like Venice itself.
A spritz can be drunk in the morning in neighborhood cafes with sweatered fishermen on their way to work, or on hotel rooftops with heiresses and views of the Grand Canal at sunset. Caffes, tratorrias, and osterias are centers of social activity in Venice. On a spritz-themed day, you can practice your language skills, eat and drink with a variety of people, see the city and beyond, and appreciate the flavors, figurative and literal, of the beautiful city.
In the Morning: How to Order
Osteria are open from 8 am. A spritz costs between 1.50 to 2.50 euros depending on fisherman vs. heiress-proximity.
The wine in a spritz is from Treviso, classically, but it's only official requirement is that it's white. The liqueur is bitter orange Aperol or Campari, the bites of which are softened by a salty green olive and a citrus twist. Weirdly, the artichoke liqueur, Cynar, option is also good.
For a nosh, the glass cupboards beside the bar offer panini sandwiches. A 'Prosciutto e formaggio panini' or formaggio alone for a hot, salty accompaniment to an icy bitter morning spritz.
Order 'Un spritz con la buccia d'arancia', a spritz with orange peel for a little zip.
The bartender will ask, "Con Aperol o Campari?' both vibrant orange liqueurs. Campari is more bitter than Aperol, which has been called Campari's sweet little sister.
Brunch on the Lido
Today, venture into the Lagoon. In 15 minutes, the vaporetto from the Fondamente Novve takes you to the Lido. It's a busy town full of chic original, if a little storm-worn, Art Deco architecture. An easy walk across the narrow island are palm trees, kitschy thatched cabanas, and striped awnings of the Lido's Adriatic beaches, made famous in the 1960s by doe-eyed Italian film stars and starlets in pointy bikinis, solid hair, and cat's eye glasses. At mid-morning, stop by a bakery in town for a spritz with a little cake. You can order a small spritz "Picollo, per favore", if you'd rather not nod off on the vaporetto.
A Snooze in Venice
In the afternoon, stop by the square beside the old Herb Market at the foot of the Rialto Bridge, among the sleek Cipriani gourmet shops, there is a tiny bar the size of a closet that takes its wooden doors down around lunchtime, serves Spritz and Bellinis, a sparkly peach nectar and Prosecco delight, for a few hours. Gondoliers rush in, order "Acqua Veneziana!" "Venetian water!" and slosh back a stil-swirling spritz, tourist sit in the sun smiling and chatting in lots of languages, and handsome accountants on the way home for lunch stand in dashing raincoats and perfect shoes, briefcases in one hand, spritz in the other.
Osteria Evening
For all its maritime sea-faring ways, Venice is a home body. In the evening, shops shut from 5 until 7 and the streets are quiet. Children come home from school, play outside, do their homework. Families dine. Shops are closed seemingly for good in the empty streets, but then fling up their shutters and barricades again, and the streets and neighborhood squares, tratorrias and osteria fill up. Restaurants open around 6:30 or 7 until and hum happily along until 10 or 12. Dinner is usually the focus of an evening. A few spritz apertifs, a good dinner with wine, and digestifs, and everybody trails home down the winding vias to bed.
A classic spritz recipe is:
In a glass,
Add
A fistful of Ice
60 ml Prosecco from Treviso, ideally, or a sparkling white wine
A splash of sparkling water (without water it is a 'bianco macchiato spritz')
40 ml Aperol for sweetly bitter, Campari for honestly bitter, Cynar for artichokey
Then
Skewer an orange or lemon, slice or peel and
A green olive with the pit in
onto a long, eye-gouging tooth-pick
Swirl it all together
Enjoy!
The Al Marca Osteria, Rialto, Venice, Veneto, Ital
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Spritz at the Al Marca, Rialto, Venice, Veneto
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