L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano I f there is one thing I t a l y h a s b e e n missing since lock- d o w n o r d e r s w e r e enforced again , it's aperitivo. Whether it was a quick one after the office, a weekly way to catch up with friends, or just a weekend occurrence to enjoy some social time while nibbling on nice food, most of us would have at least an aperitivo time a week. Right now, things are a bit different: when are we going to be able to have aperitivo a g a i n ? W h o k n o w s — although some hope, perha- ps a tad too boldly, to be able to enjoy a spritz or two over C h r i s t m a s t i m e . L e t ' s b e honest: to live aperitivo time as we used to, we may have to wait a few months more, but that doesn't mean we can't be constructive with our time in the meantime. T o b e g i n w i t h , w e c a n e n j o y a c o u p l e w i t h o u r loved ones at home, as our c l a s s i c s — A p e r o l S p r i t z , N e g r o n i , A m e r i c a n o , Bellini… — have ingredient p r e t t y e a s y t o g e t a t t h e supermarket. But you know what would be even more f u n ? H a v i n g a n a p e r i t i v o drink while learning why it's called the way it is. So, go get the Aperol and I'll take care of the rest! Aperol Spritz is proba- bly Italy's favorite aperitivo drink: it's fresh, it's sparkly, not as strong as Negroni, but a bit naughtier than Bellini — more about them below. Made with prosecco, Aperol (a bitter orange flavored spi- rit), and club soda, we call it simply spritz in Italy, but why? To find out, we need to t r a v e l b a c k i n t i m e t o Veneto, sometimes in the 1 9 t h c e n t u r y , w h e n t h e region was still part of the H a p s b u r g E m p i r e . B a c k t h e n , A u s t r i a n s h a d p r o - b l e m s h a n d l i n g t h e h i g h alcohol content of our wines, s o t h e y w o u l d o f t e n a s k i n n k e e p e r s t o a d d e i t h e r water or bitter to their glass. A n d h o w w o u l d t h e y d o that? Simple: shouting sprit- zen!, which means "to spla- s h . " S o , t h e n a m e s p r i t z comes from a German verb! Another typical aperitivo drink in Italy is Negroni. Not for the faint-hearted, Negroni is a heady, aromatic mix of gin, Campari and red vermouth. If Spritz is a child of Veneto, Negroni is a true Florentine. It was created in F l o r e n c e , s o m e t i m e s b e t w e e n 1 9 1 9 a n d 1 9 2 0 , w h e n C o u n t C a m i l l o Negroni asked a bartender a t t h e D r o g h e r i a a n d Profumeria Casoni, in Via de' Tornabuoni, to stiffen up a classic Americano. Now… we need to spend a couple of words of that cocktail, too: the Americano was, and still is, a popular mixed drink made with vermouth, bitter a n d s o d a w a t e r . C o u n t N e g r o n i w a n t e d h i s A m e r i c a n o s t r o n g e r , b u t with the same enticing ruby c o l o r o f t h e o r i g i n a l . T h e s o l u t i o n ? A d d i n g g i n , o f course. And that's how the Americano alla maniera del Conte Negroni and its name were born. If you are in Italy, you may come across someo- n e o r d e r i n g a N e g r o n i Sbagliato, or a messed up Negroni, that is. Well, this is a pretty popular aperitivo too, which was — legends say — born by mistake when a bartender mistook a bottle of prosecco for the gin he nee- ded for a Negroni. The result was quite nice and became popular in its own right. Bellini is another favori- te of aperitivo time. Since we began enjoying brunch, we like to pair it with that, too, mostly because it doesn't have near as much alcohol content as Negroni, spritz a n d o t h e r a p e r i t i v o f a v s . Bellini was created in the late 1930s or early 1940s in Venice and it is a mix of pro- secco and white peach purée. It owes its name to the pain- t e r G i o v a n n i B e l l i n i , a n d more precisely, to the fact t h a t i t s c o l o r r e m i n d e d Giuseppe Cipriani, the cocktail's creator, of a speci- fic shade of pink found in one of Bellini's paintings. B e c a u s e w h i t e p e a c h e s were not that simple to come by, a series of variations on the Bellini were born: if you mix prosecco and mandarin juice, you'll have a Puccini; p r o s e c c o a n d s t r a w b e r r y purée give us a Rossini, while prosecco and pome- granate are the ingredients of Tintoretto. Whichever version you pick, these are probably the most elegant and artsy of all our aperitivi! I ndovina (een-doh- vee-nah) comes from the word indovinare, w h i c h m e a n s t o guess. This little verb of ours is worthy of some more discussion. It comes from the vulgar Latin indivi- nare and, through it, from t h e L a t i n d i v i n a r e , t o foretell. So, indovinare may mean only to guess, but its roots a r e f a r m o r e m a g i c a l , i m b u e d a s t h e y a r e i n a world of premonition, future t e l l i n g a n d d i v i n e s u g g e - stions. Indovina, our word of the day, is nothing more than the second person singular Imperative of the verb indo- vinare — and with this, I promise, the grammar les- son is over. The fact is that indovina, often followed by an exclamation or question m a r k , i s p r o b a b l y m o r e common that its — already v e r y p o p u l a r — m o t h e r verb. We use is every time we want to bring atten- t i o n o n s o m e t h i n g w e d i s c o v e r e d , t h a t w e f i n d interesting, shocking or sur- p r i s i n g , j u s t l i k e i n Indovina chi ho incontrato q u e s t a m a t t i n a ! ( G u e s s whom I met this morning), or Indovina: ho vinto una vacanza! (Guess what! I've won a holiday!). Our little example told you already how, most often than not, indovina is tran- slated in English: with guess who, or guess what, guess how and its use is very much the same. Kids may also be familiar with the indovina indovinel- lo expression, often used to introduce a riddle: I didn't think it was still a thing, but a quick online search proved me wrong straight away. This lead us to another couple of interesting word connected to indovina and indovinare: indovinello, as w e s a i d , m e a n s " r i d d l e , " while indovina (written and p r o n o u n c e d j u s t l i k e o u r imperative) is a fortune tel- ler: non posso crederci, è a n d a t o d a u n ' i n d o v i n a a f a r s i l e g g e r e l e c a r t e ! ( I can't believe it! He went to a fortune teller for a tarot rea- ding). Mind, though, that this noun also has a masculi- ne and a plural: so, we'll also have an indovino (a male fortune teller) and indovine and indovini! Indovina chi viene a cena domani? Guess who's coming to dinner tomorrow? Indovina questo e vince- rai il primo premio Guess it right and you'll win the first prize. I n d o v i n a q u a n t o l ' h o pagato! Guess how much I paid it! LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day — Indovina! When your guess is as good as mine. Italian curiosities: Spritz, Negroni and all those other quirky cocktails Ruby red Negroni gets its name from the person who inspired it (Photo: Denismart/Dreamstime)

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