Although there were some reports that said Harry’s Bar in Venice Italy closed down it now seems that the closure of Harry’s was not permanent. An article printed in Venezia Today which quoted Arrigio Cipriani (patron of Harry’s Bar) as saying: …. “it will not reopen on Monday or ever again.“ But in reality he was referring to not opening back up with the current conditions on bars in place. So Harry’s isn’t permanently closed! Yay! That fills my heart with joy!
Harry’s Bar was opened in 1931 by Guiseppi Cipriani who in turn created the Bellini in the 1940’s. According to local legend an American by the name of Harry Pickering became a bar at the Europa Hotel where Cipriani was the bartender. Then all of a sudden just stopped coming. Some time later, Cipriani ran into Pickering and asked him why he stopped coming to the bar and Pickering replied that he was broke because upon finding out his drinking habits, his family had cut him off. Cipriani then lent Pickering 500 lire (about 8,000 dollars in today’s money) to help get him back on his feet. Two years later Pickering returned to Venice, found Cipriani and gave him 50,000 lire to repay him for his generosity. According to Harry’s website Pickering said “Mr. Cipriani thank you. Here’s The money, and to show you my appreciation for your generosity here’s 40,000 more enough to open a bar. We will call it Harry’s Bar.” Now that is a story almost as touching as the end of Ratatouille.
In it’s history Harry’s has seen the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Arturo Toscanini, Peggy Guggenheim, George Clooney, Woody Allen and Anthony Bourdain grace it’s doorstep. Bourdain was quoted as saying “You get a pretty good plate of food and the Bellinis are just fine. They just cost a fu*k of a lot.” I haven’t had the pleasure of going to Harry’s and now I never will. So I’ll just pour one out for the Homie.
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Barfly Antique Shaking Set: https://amzn.to/3h1fjUS
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Bellini
Ingredients
- 3 oz Prosecco
- 2 oz Peach Puree Harry’s used White Peach Puree
Instructions
- Add cold Puree to champagne flute
- Top with cold Prosecco
