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Oct 13 - Oct 20,2002 |
Piedmontese Cocktails
The home of Campari, Vermouth and Martini & Rossi
By Lynn Luciani
Originally Published: 2002-09-29
In the heart of northwest Italy, apart from its famous Alpine mountains, lakes and superb cuisine, few people really know the stunning region that will play host to the 2006 Winter Olympic games. Torino, the city in the heart of the beautiful Piedmontese countryside dotted with small villages and ancient castles, is the latest Italian region full of sophisticated pleasures.
Besides the region's legendary white truffle, celebrated hazelnuts, sweet torrone and internationally acclaimed fine wines, lies a very exciting and delicious cocktail culture!
It was June and I walked into Piazza Castello which had been transformed into Cocktail Square and a celebration of "un'aperitivo a Torino". Here there were thousands of very happy people mingling among the many tents that had been erected to show off some of the most traditional cocktails of the region. Of course I made a beeline straight for the brilliant red tent with the yellow crest of prancing horses - the Ferrari tent!
I was just in time for a demonstration of a traditional mixed drink of the city called Negroni. Very potent, this drink was born in Torino by Count Negroni and is a secret blend of gin, vermouth and Campari served in a large martini glass over ice with a twist of lemon rind. As I later found out, the secret blend is an equal part of each of the three local ingredients.
Campari, a bright red aperitif flavoured with bitter herbs and roots, is generally considered to have medicinal properties. It is unquestionably effective as an aid to digestion and is often recommended as a hangover cure. Campari is Italy's most famous bitter aperitif that can be drunk on its own, unlike other bitters whose flavour is so concentrated that they are only added in drops to flavour another drink.
It seems the locals of Torino often indulge in an aperitif par excellence in the early evening. At this time of the day, lunch is a distant memory, dinner is still to come and your palate is clean, undistracted and eager for an enticing beverage. While in Torino I drank Campari and soda over ice with a twist of lemon as a before dinner drink, and today it remains as my favourite after work drink.
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