100 Negronis : December 2014

The history of the Negroni is uncertain, but we have researched it well. Not just where it began, but how this exemplary cocktai has emerged over almost 100 years to become the wildly popular drink that is today...

Count Camillo Negroni

As to its origin, the most prevalent story is that it was first created in Florence, Italy in 1919, at Caffè Casoni, an antique shop/bar, (think Il Buco) where now Caffè Giacosa is found. As the story goes Count Camillo Negroni asked bartender Fosco Scarselli to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin instead of the typical soda water. Fosco distinguished the drink with an orange garnish rather than the typical lemon. The Whole Story is Here- New Evidence: The Real Count Camillo Negroni

Caffe Giacosa, Florence Italy

Of course like most tales in Italy there is another version of the story. In his one it is told that the drink was invented in 1857 in the West African country of Senegal by Corsican General Pascal Olivier de Negroni. They say he created a drink to aide his new wife’s digestion lifting the drink to toast to her health on their wedding day. Negroni family lays claim to namesake cocktail

Sorry Pascal, with no disrespect, we are going with the Italian Count Camillo version.