Chapter one

History

A drink invented by subtraction and stubbornness — and unchanged for a century.

Florence, 1919. Count Camillo Negroni returns from a spell abroad with a taste for something stronger than the Americano he usually drinks at Caffè Casoni. He asks the bartender to replace the soda water with gin. The bartender obliges, swaps the lemon twist for orange to signal the change, and the most balanced cocktail in the canon is born by accident.

What makes it endure is its symmetry. Equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, stirred over ice — no shaking, no citrus juice, no syrup. Every component is visible. There is nowhere to hide a mediocre pour, which is precisely why we use it to judge a bar.

This site reviews only the classic. Sbagliati, mezcal variations and white Negronis are fine drinks and none of our business.

Painting of a Negroni in a crystal tumbler beside a Campari bottle — Artist: Kaas

Timeline

1860Gaspare Campari creates his bitter red aperitivo in Novara.

1919Count Camillo Negroni asks Caffè Casoni in Florence to stiffen his Americano with gin.

1920sBartender Fosco Scarselli adds an orange slice instead of lemon to mark the new drink.

1947The recipe appears in international cocktail books, spreading beyond Italy.

2013Negroni Week begins, and the classic becomes a global bar-menu fixture.

TodayStill three parts, still stirred, still garnished with orange.