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the Negroni

A Negroni. Photo Geoff Peters, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Negroni

11 traced influences · 6 sources

dig the Negroni

What it took directly

  1. documentedThe Negroni took from Count Camillo Negroni's order at Florence's Caffè Casoni: an Americano made stronger with gin"But one of Scarselli's regulars, Count Camillo Negroni, who had recently returned from England, requested a drink "po più robusto" - with additional gin, a spirit he had come to love in the UK." Theodora Sutcliffe, Difford's Guide — the Florence account
  2. documentedThe original Negroni comes from Fosco Scarselli, the bartender at Caffè Casoni, in 1919 — made then with only a few drops of gin"According to an article by Enzo Grazzini in the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera dated November 15, 1962, the original Negroni—created by Fosco Scarselli for Count Negroni at Florence’s Caffè Casoni in 1919—contained only “a few drops of gin.”" Andrea Strafile, Punch (2021), citing Enzo Grazzini in Corriere della Sera, 1962
  3. documentedThe Negroni comes from General Pascal Olivier de Negroni, in Senegal in 1857 — by a descendant's account"an ancestor, the French Gen. Pascal Olivier de Negroni, invented the drink in 1857 in the West African country of Senegal." Noel Negroni, a descendant, to Mark Hayward, New Hampshire Union Leader (2014) — the family account
  4. documentedThe Negroni, printed as the “Negrone”, comes from Manuel Sánchez Maspons of Havana, by the credit in Constante Ribailagua's Floridita Cock-tails"One of the first codified recipes for the Negroni appears in Constantino “Constante” Ribailagua’s Floridita Cock-tails, under the name of “Negrone,” where it is credited to Manuel Sánchez Maspons, the assistant editor of Diario Indipendente in Havana." Andrea Strafile, Punch (2021)
  5. documentedThe equal-parts Negroni comes from 1947, when Amedeo Gandiglio's Cocktails Portfolio first printed it"It wasn’t until 1947 that the familiar equal-parts recipe appeared in print, in Amedeo Gandiglio’s Cocktails Portfolio, a collection of 325 recipes discovered by bar historian Paolo Ponzo." Andrea Strafile, Punch (2021), citing bar historian Paolo Ponzo

What it learned to do

  1. inferredFosco Scarselli's Negroni learned from his own rule that a bartender changes the drink for the customer in front of him"The bartender must change depending on the customer who is standing in front of him." inferred — Scarselli's words (a 1962 Rivista Gente feature, quoted by Difford's Guide) are about bartending in general, not about the Negroni
  2. documentedThe Negroni's comeback in the 2000s learned from Campari, which embraced the equal-parts recipe, and the bar competitions that made it a focal point"In the 2000s, the Negroni—in its equal-parts iteration—began to be embraced by Campari, becoming a focal point of competitions, which Piccinino notes “are often trendsetters.”" Andrea Strafile, Punch (2021), with vermouth expert Fulvio Piccinino

The tradition it sits in

  1. documentedThe Negroni's gin comes from London, where Count Negroni had lately travelled"Il conte, stanco del solito Americano, chiese al barman Fosco Scarselli un aperitivo con una spruzzatina di gin in sostituzione del seltz pensando agli ultimi viaggi londinesi." Luca Picchi, Florentine bartender and Negroni historian, at Campari Academy — reported by Riccardo Sada, Mixer Planet (2014)
  2. documentedThe Negroni comes from the Americano, itself a tall Milano-Torino: Campari from Milan, sweet vermouth from Turin"the Americano is, in fact, a tall version of a drink known as the Milano-Torino, a cocktail made with equal parts Campari - from Milan - and Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth, made in Turin." Domenico Costa, Italian bartender, as told to gaz regan, San Francisco Chronicle (2009)
  3. inferredThe Negroni comes from older gin, Campari and vermouth recipes such as the Campari Mixte in L'heure du Cocktail (1929)"the recipe for the Campari Mixte in L'heure du Cocktail, published in 1929, is equal parts gin, Campari, and Italian vermouth with a lemon zest, which is quite clearly a Negroni." inferred — Simon Difford (Difford's Guide) finds this 1929 recipe identical in ingredients; no source shows the Florence drink descends from it

Where the whole form comes from

  1. documentedThe Negroni comes from Gaspare Campari's Caffe Camparino in Milan, where the Milano-Torino is said to have begun in the 1860s"The Milano-Torino is said to have been invented in the 1860s at the Caffe Camparino in Milan, which was owned by Gaspare Campari." Simon Difford, Difford's Guide

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