Peaches and Harry’s

The beloved Bellini turns 60. A toast.

According to Arrigo Cipriani (in Harry’s Bar: The Life and Times of the Legendary Venice Landmark), it was 1948 when his father Giuseppe—then head bartender at Harry’s—invented the Bellini (one part juice from the white peaches of the Veneto, poured first, add two parts chilled prosecco, from its brisk northern hills). The pinkish glow reminded Cipriani of the paintings of Giovanni Bellini (1431-1516), the great Venetian of the Flemish school. (Harry’s also serves a “Titian,” named for the artist famous for his Bacchanal of 1518).

Instantly popular at Harry’s, both in Venice and in its New York outpost, the Bellini soon became its signature.  Now an “official” IBA cocktail, any licensed bartender knows how to make one, at least theoretically. Maybe inevitably, there are mango and frozen “versions,” for persons whose judgment allows them to accept uncritically the logic of Venetian mangoes, and frozen bubbles. (Oh, and while at Harry Cipriani, Fifth Avenue, say hey to general manager Hassan El Garrahy.)