Brief history of the Spritz

This aperitif cocktail's origins date back to the end of the 19th century when Venice was still part of the Austrian Empire. During this period, Austrian soldiers drank the local wines of Veneto in taverns where they were billeted, but they often diluted these with water to achieve a similar alcohol content to the beer they were more accustomed to drinking. Hence, the Spritzer is a combination of white wine and soda water (usually in equal parts).

In Veneto, the Spritz Al Bitter is made with the traditional white wines of the Veneto region, Pinot Grigio, Soave or Prosecco. The bitter liqueur used varies according to personal taste, with Campari, Aperol, Select and Cynar all popular in Venice. The drink is usually garnished with a slice of orange, but sometimes an olive, depending on the liqueur used. According to Gruppo Campari, in Veneto, around 300,000 Spritzes are consumed every day, that's more that's 200 Spritzes a minute.

In the 2000 American comedy film Meet the Parents starring Robert de Niro, Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman, Streisand offers De Niro an Italian Spritz instead of his usual Tom Collins. The film perhaps marks the start of the global spread and rise in popularity of the spritz. However, the spritz didn't take off until the Twenty-Teens.