Aperol Spritz traces its roots back to the 1840s with the original “Spritzer,” composed of white wine and seltzer water. The German term Spritz means “splash” or “squirt,” and the drink came about when Austro-Hungarian soldiers, based in Italy’s northeast and accustomed to beer, began adding sparkling water to the stronger wines of the area to reduce their alcohol content and make them more refreshing.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Italians started to add locally produced vermouths, bitters, and liqueurs to the original concoction. One of the most popular of these versions is the Spritz Veneziano, a Spritz with some kind of bitter added (the Select brand, from the region, was often used, as was Campari). Gradually the Spritz Veneziano spread to the bordering regions and, by the 1970s, everywhere in northern Italy.
Meanwhile, in 1919 in the city of Padua, in the Veneto, a light bitter called Aperol was developed by the Barbieri family. For decades, it was generally drunk with soda and a slice of orange, often from a glass rimmed with sugar. At some point near the end of the twentieth century—it is difficult to establish exactly when—beach bars on the Venetian Riviera began using Aperol in their Venetian Spritzes and serving the drink with ice in a large wine glass. The resulting drink spread rapidly throughout the region, and then the country.
After the 2003 acquisition of Aperol by the Campari company, the drink started to be marketed not only as the perfect way to serve Aperol but as the quintessential Italian summer drink. By the second decade of the century this campaign had largely succeeded, in no small part because the Aperol Spritz really does combine most of the most popular elements of Italian drinking: it is refreshing, low in alcohol, lightly bitter, and based largely on wine. It is now ubiquitous in Italy. Since the exports of Aperol started in the 2000s, it is also now wildly popular around the world.
See also Americano and Campari.
Recipe: Pour 120 ml prosecco, 30 ml Aperol, and 60 ml soda into an ice-filled wine goblet or Collins glass and garnish with an orange slice.
Baiocchi, Talia, and Leslie Pariseau. Spritz. San Francisco: Ten Speed Press, 2016.
Cremonesi, Marco. “Quel drink diventato un simbolo italiano.” Corriere della sera, June 29, 2019, 38.
By: Leo Leuci