Hotel Baglioni, 1919*

• 1.25 oz. Beefeater Gin (or other London Dry gin)
• 1.25 oz. Campari
• 1.25 oz. Martini Italian Sweet Vermouth

Build in a chilled rocks / old-fashioned glass over an oversized ice cube starting with gin, then vermouth, and then Campari. Stir gently. Express the orange peel over the glass and add as garnish.

*As simple as this classic cocktail is, its origins are a mystery.

This New York Times article credits a wealthy Florentine named Count Camillo Negroni who suggested making a boozier version of the Americano (a Campari-based drink) to bartender Fosco Scarselli at Hotel Baglioni in Florence around 1919.

Caffè Giacosa (known as Caffè Casoni between 1919 and 1920 and a mere 6-minute walk away from Hotel Baglioni) cites that Fosco Scarselli was their bartender and created the cocktail for Count Cammillo Negroni (spelled intentionally with 2 m’s) who frequented their establishment.

In an 1886 letter to his brother, General Pascal Olivier Count de Negroni writes about inventing a vermouth-based cocktail while he was stationed in the French colony of Saint Louis in Senegal, West Africa between 1855 and 1865 and how it was popular at the Lunéville Officers Club of Lorraine. Was the Negroni actually invented in Senegal rather than Italy? Read more facts gathered at Drinking Cup.