Americano

History

Meaning "American-style" in Italian, the name references this cocktail's origins. Italian vermouth producers, picking up on the trend for cocktails in the USA to be based on vermouth with bitters, started marketing vermouths with bitters already added under the name "vermouth Americano." Italian bars then started making their own versions by adding various bittersweet liqueurs, including Fernet Branca, to vermouth. Some also added soda to turn this cocktail into a long drink. Then the popularity of the Milano Torino led to red bitter liqueur (e.g. Campari) being used in preference to amari in an Americano.

Ferruccio Mazzon's 1920 book Il Barista – Guida del Barman, a "collection of American and International Recipes", includes two "Americano" recipes, a single serve and a "Americano (grandi quantità)" (large quantities). Both illustrate the Americano's origins as vermouth adjusted by adding bitters, or bitter liqueurs and other flavourings such as "5 drops of cognac".

Americano
In a large glass, put:
3 pieces of ice
1 glass of Marsala of Vermouth Torino
1 teaspoon of Bitter F.R.M.
5 drops of Cognac
4 drops of Angostura
Stir and pour, as for cocktails, into the same glass, squeezing the usual lemon peel.

Americano (large quantities)
20 liters of Vermouth
1/2 liter of Cognac and 1/2 liter of Syrup
1 liter of water
1/4 liter of Bitter
1/8 liter of Lemon tincture
1/8 liter of Orange tincture
Pass and bottle.

Ferruccio Mazzon, Il Barista – Guida del Barman, 1920 (translated)