The negroni is a boozy and bitter cocktail thats made of equal parts gin, vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet), and Campari, generally served on the rocks, and commonly garnished with an orange peel or in super traditional Italian bars with an olive.

The popular cocktails origin story actually goes back to Milan in the 1860s. At Caff Campari a bartender mixed two regional spirits Campari from Milan and vermouth from Turin to create a rich and bitter beverage that he would garnish with an orange slice and name the Milano Torino.

Over the years, Milan became a popular vacation destination for Americans and the bartending community quickly noticed that Americans didnt warm up to bitter tasting beverages quite as quickly as Italians did, but rather they preferred long drinks. In order to tamper down the Milano Torino many bars added club soda to the mixture and dubbed the new version of the drink, an Americano. This bubbly refreshing version became a commonly ordered cocktail throughout Italy.

Now heres where the Negroni comes into play: its said that in 1919 an Italian-born dignitary named Count Camillo Negroni was at his favorite spot in Florence, Casoni Bar (which is still around today, now named Giacosa Caf). Count Negroni was well-traveled and said to be a man about town who loved to gamble and often had a drink in his hand. As the story goes, he was hanging out at Casoni Bar and he told the bartender (his name was Fosco Scarselli) that he wanted more of a kick in his next drink thats when Scarselli swapped out the club soda for gin and replaced the orange garnish with a lemon.

Word about this drink began to spread and soon it was available all over Italy, later across Europe, and eventually in the United States. The first documented words about the cocktail came from Orson Welles who said The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other, while on location in Rome.

Another notable development for the Negroni cocktail family tree took place in 1967 at Bar Basso in Milan. Apparently someone ordered a Negroni from a bartender who was deeply swamped and he grabbed a bottle of Prosecco thinking it was gin and proceeded to make the cocktail. While it was definitely unintentional and not what the customer ordered, they loved it and the drink was appropriately named Negroni Sbagliato which means mistaken Negroni in Italian.

These days youd be hard pressed to find a cocktail menu without a Negroni or a creative riff of one on it. Some are barrel-aged, some swap out the gin for mezcal (a Oaxacan Negroni), some use homemade vermouth or add bitters, some are even clarified. As a drink made with three equal parts, its a super simple cocktail that can be made at home or in a large format.