Ready to Spritz!

Aperitivo Time!

Liv told us about where she loves to go to drink a warm tea. I’m gonna tell you where Italians love to go to have their “Happy hour” drink, before dinner (usually it can last also after it, long after…).

First of all, we need to clarify one thing: in Italy, we have bars but we don’t have any american style coffee/tea shop, and you will never find any Starbucks! Coffee in Italy is a practice. Our little espresso need to be taken whenever we want and without any rush. We do love coffee, cappuccino, macchiato, decaf, and so on and on. We would never drink coffee while we are walking in the street and American coffee just taste so different for us.

We have some pubs and bakeries which have a specific usage. You go to a pub after dinner, and not to have dinner in, and to bakeries for breakfast, or in the afternoon (mostly on Saturday and Sunday afternoon) to eat some cakes, pastries, and to drink hot chocolate, branded teas, smoothies and so on. Often bakeries are also ice-cream parlor.

So let’s go back to the main topic now: Italians love their aperitif time. After work, after school, sometimes before lunch, mostly before dinner, in a time include from 5pm till 8pm, sometimes it can last until 10pm or 11pm, so that means that you are not probably going to have dinner at all.

We go to a bar and we order Spritz or Hugo or a glass of Prosecco (sparkling wine). And we chat and we laugh and we relax after a busy day. Usually you can get some snakes with them, such as: chips, peanuts, a little piece of pizza, olives..or there are some places that offer you a real buffet: pasta, pizza, deli meat, cheese, eggs.. There you can have “dinner” while having you aperitivo. You might pay more for it but it's worthy. Some bars offers a specific day during the week where you can have your happy hour, or your aperitivo with buffet.

I suggest to people who will ever go to Italy to try it! I like Spritz, which is almost well known in all Italy, but more diffused in North-East Italy: Veneto (Padua is one of the best place to have it, probably because it is an university city, but also Verona where I study plays its role), Trentino, where I'm from and the seaside Regions (Tuscany, Emilia Romagna..). 

Hugo is relatively new, it became famous two years ago, starting from Bolzano (Alto Adige), arrived later in Trentino and spreading in Veneto.

Prosecco doesn’t need any introduction, the amazing sparkling wine is good in every occasion, and as Italy has its high quality wines, also Prosecco it’s so special. One of my favorites is Altemasi, or Valdobbiadene kind, and I like rosè ones.
Trust me, I know what I’m talking about because I used to be a bartender, and I come from a region really skilled in making wines.

http://www.altemasi.com
http://www.visittrentino.it/en/articolo/dett/i-vini-del-trentino

  

Do you want to know the recipe for Spritz and Hugo?! Here they are!

- Spritz: ice, slice of orange, 1 part of Aperol, 1 part of prosecco (almost the same amount), a splash of seltz or sparkling water.

- Hugo: ice, mint, a slice of lemon, 1 part of elderberry syrup (a small amount because it’s really sweet), 1 part of presecco and 1 part of seltz or sparkling water.

Enjoy!

Xo Xo Camilla