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Like the Italian food scene in New Jersey, the world of Italian cocktails is vast and varied. It includes specialty wines and spirits, such as amaro, vermouth, prosecco and limoncello, which are usually categorized as aperitivo (before a meal) or digestivo (to aid digestion). Variations on the Aperol spritz, which gets its name from the zesty, oran...

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Little Italy’s customary cuisine and (pre-dinner) cocktails have traveled northwest into the trendy West Village neighborhood for a restyle. Aperitivo ‘tails, such the fizzy Aperol Spritz, are experiencing a thoughtful upgrade under top restaurateurs and bev-experts—calling the “who’s who” to the city’s West Side. “There’s been an uptick in regiona...

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Chances are, mentioning words like “Spumante” or “Moscato” will elicit a full-body shudder. These Italian sparkling wines have the reputation of being sweet, sugary and highly hangover-provoking. And for good reason. “It maybe has something to do with the millions of bottles of dubiously-produced Spumante d’Asti wine that flooded the U.S. market in...

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The aperitivo is practically an institution in Italy. An early evening drink, the aperitivo is supposed to stimulate the appetite before dinner, as compared to the digestivo, a drink supposed to help with digestion after dinner. While this sounds as if Italians use any old excuse to enjoy a nice drink — and why not? — the aperitivo is much more a s...

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Whoever studies the history of medicine finds L’Orvietan,” says Lamberto Bernardini. In his laboratory in Orvieto, Italy, a medieval hill town famous for its soaring duomo, that history is all around. Bernardini’s vaulted, frescoed space dates to the 1200s. One of the rooms in his lab is a museum-like space filled with historic books and framed ant...

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Not sure about you, but I had an absolute humdinger of a holiday season: Between all the roasts and cakes, and punches and nogs, I am, even two-plus weeks later, in desperate need of a digestivo or two. What’s a digestivo (or if you prefer le français, digestif), you may ask? It’s any after-dinner drink — from sambuca to cognac — that’s supposed to...

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We've all heard of the Negroni — the bright cocktail made with gin, sweet red vermouth and Campari — and its distant cousin cocktail the "Negroni sbagliato." Bars around the globe offer the original cocktail and plenty of variations — Dante, a New York City institution that's among the Top 50 World's Best Bars, even offers a full Negroni menu at it...

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Never mind the season, it’s always a good time to have aperitivo with friends. A great way to end the day or the working week in good company, this quintessentially Italian habit has become pretty popular around the world, where it’s also known as “happy hour.” We Italians tend to enjoy our end-of-the-day drinks with finger food of all kinds, which...

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The concept of going to a bar, and the definition of the bar itself, is very different in Italy from that held in any Anglo-Saxon or Northern European country. A bar in Italy‘s a place for refreshments, where one can have a quick breakfast in the morning, usually consisting of a coffee or cappuccino (strictly drunk in the AM) and a croissant. Throu...

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Whether you're hosting a large dinner party or just cooking for yourself, every dinner can be enhanced with the addition of an aperitif. Aperitifs are meant to be drunk before dinner, and they're characteristically dry with low alcohol content, perfect for serving on their own or mixed into delicious, refreshing cocktails (via Advanced Mixology). T...

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