Venice: Cocktails At Harry's Bar.

In total, I've lived in NYC four years of my like. Three years, when I was younger and had absolutely no money - it would scare the crap out of my fiance that I could survive on $20 in my bank about for two weeks. One year, when I was in my mid-30s, and could afford more than Taco Bell. (Though I often pretend I can't, because I love Taco Bell tacos.)

Anyway...

One of the "romantic" and "stylistic" draws to Venice (for me) was Harry's Bar.


It is part of the "Cipriani" business, which has a few restaurants in NYC. I have always been too poor to eat at them. But being in Venice, it was a "bucket list" item to visit.

Tucked down a little street, just after a row of amazing luxury stores (Hello, Balenciaga! How are you?), behind two quiet doors (so quiet, I almost missed them!) is an iconic bar....


Home of the Bellini (peach pure and prosecco - though, champagne, if you must), this was a haunt of quite a few famous people in the last century. Including one of my crazy writing heroes, Ernest Hemingway.


I knew that if I was coming to Venice, I had to hunt this place down and have a Bellini. Surprisingly, it took no effort find. And have within two hours of landing at Marco Polo Airport, I was sipping a Bellini...


I followed it up with a Negroni, my favorite "aperativo." The Bellini was actually too sweet for me. I'm not a fan of Mimosas or Bellinis. But the Negroni, with it's awesome bitterness, was "perfezinone."

The bar itself was charming, but only because it is old. It is absolutely worth a pop into, for a Bellini or Negroni. It's really an "in and out" kind of place. It's old.Sure, the waiters and barmen are dressed charmingly... But the prices are high. And it is a wee bit "touristy."

But what else do you expect?

Plus, they take credit cards. So the 16-Euro you spend on a Bellini is easy to manage. Plus, you're able to capture some mood-specific photos in there. I enjoyed it. 

Especially that bitter Negroni. Hmm....

Comments

Popular Posts