The story
The best-known story puts the Negroni's birth in Florence around 1919, at Caffè Casoni on Via de' Tornabuoni. Count Camillo Negroni, a regular said to have spent years in the American West, asked bartender Fosco Scarselli to make his usual Americano stronger. Scarselli swapped the soda water for gin and used an orange slice instead of lemon to tell the drinks apart. Other customers began ordering it the Count's way, and the name stuck. The Negroni family later sold a bottled version, and bartenders abroad carried the recipe around the world.
Rival claims
Descendants of a French general, Pascal Olivier Comte de Negroni, claim he created a vermouth-based Negroni decades earlier, but most drinks historians back the story of Count Camillo Negroni in Florence around 1919.
Also known as Negroni cocktail.
On the Meridish menu
Negroni was the aperitif course on menu No. 4 on October 4, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
Around 1919 a count asked his bartender to stiffen his Americano by swapping the soda water for gin.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
- diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/2015-04-16/987/cocktails/the-negroni-cocktail
- butterfield.com/get-inspired/the-origin-of-the-negroni
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroni
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
