Discover the Fascinating History Behind the Popular Spritz Cocktail
Everyone seems to be ordering a spritz. In recent years, according to Google Trends, the spritz, specifically the Hugo and the Aperol, are two of the top ten most-searched cocktails in the world.
It's rare to see any restaurant or bar without one on their menu. It truly is everywhere. Given the number of spritzes you see on a stroll through St. Mark's Square, you realize very quickly that its popularity is certainly not waning anytime soon.
How did this semi-sweet, semi-bitter cocktail come to be beloved by millions? We actually have the nineteenth-century Austro-Hungarian troops to thank for the world drinking red cocktails. After the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon in 1797, Venice became a pawn in the conflict between the French and the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was handed over to the Hapsburgs in the late eighteenth century and would remain under Teutonic rule until 1866, when the city was united with the newly formed Italian state.
Like most who visit Venice, and Italy in general, the occupying forces couldn't get enough of Italian wine. However, these generally Gewürztraminer-guzzling gendarmes couldn't handle the higher alcohol content in their Venetian vino and looked to make it more palatable. The easiest way was to add a ‘splash' of water. The German word for splash is spritzen. Lop off the -en with your sabre and you have the spritz.
After the unification of Italy, this trend for adding water to wine continued. In early twentieth-century Italy, amaro spirits began to be produced on a wide scale. Venetian-born favorite, Select Aperitivo was launched by the Pilla brothers, Mario and Vittorio, from their distillery in the sestiere of Castello 1920. Aperol was also created not far from Venice in Bassano del Grappa in 1919.
As these bitter spirits gained followers, we can only imagine that someone may have asked for their spritz to be made with a bit more bite, so a dash of amaro was thrown in for good measure. No one really knows for sure!
The spritz's growth can also be tied to Italian aperitivo culture, made most fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s. According to Christian ascetic and aperitivo-avoider Diadochos of Photiki, writing in the fifth century, aperitivi (or aperitifs) "open a way to the stomach for the vast meal which is to follow." Or it simply could have been another opportunity to get together with friends after work and before dinner to enjoy a drink or two – never a bad thing!
There is no documentation for when the substitution of bubbly prosecco for still wine occurred, although there is a myth that two bars on the nearby Venice Beach of Jesolo started the trend in the 1990s, which is quite credible as prosecco production is found in the Veneto region right outside the city.
You can choose to have your spritz made any way you like, but usually its ingredients are amaro, sparkling wine and splash of soda. In Venice, a selection of spritzes are on offer: Select Spritz, aka the Venetian Spritz; Aperol Spritz; Cynar Spritz, made with Italy's best-selling artichoke-flavoured digestive, and/or the Hugo Spritz, originating in northern Italy with elderflower liqueur as a sub for the amaro.
The Select Spritz is the one that can truly be called Venetian, as Select Aperitivo itself was born here. Its recipe is three parts prosecco, two parts Select Aperitivo, a splash of soda water and, interestingly, a green olive! One cannot underestimate how important this salty drupe is to the overall cocktail. According to Select Aperitivo, the green olive's saltiness ‘perfectly marries' with the bittersweet of the amaro.
Whichever spritz is your thing, there is no doubt it's a fantastic drink that the world has embraced – and it all began in Venice.
Excerpted from A Guide to Drinking in Venice By Susan L. Schwartz copyright ©2026, reprinted by permission of Quadrille. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Drink section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 1:29 PM.