Though Aperol itself didn’t come into being until 1919, the idea of a spritz has been around for MUCH longer. The name appears to trace back to the 1800s in when portions of the Veneto region of northern Italy were controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Visitors and soldier from other parts of the empire were said to have found Italian wines too strong and so lightened them with a splash (a “spritz,” in German) of water.
Wine may have been the starting point for spritzes, but the recipe slowly evolved, first substituting flat water for the lift of bubbly soda water, then progressively supplementing the flavors with fortified wines and progressively, liqueurs.
Aperol finally entered the picture in the early 1900s, when brothers Luigi and Silvio Barbieri inherited their father’s liquor company in 1912, and after seven years of experimentation, debuted the bold, technicolor tipple Aperol, inspired by the French term for apéritif: “Apéro.”
The original recipe, which is still in use today, remains a secret, but does include both bitter and sweet oranges as well as rhubarb.
The brand grew in popularity throughout the beginning of the 20th century, but it wasn’t until the ’50s that the official recipe for the Aperol spritz was born. The sip was a hit in its native Italy as an aperitivo—a sort of light, pre-dinner drink meant to refresh you from the day and get your appetite in gear for the evening.
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