Drunk Troops and Big Budget Brands: The Real History of the Spritz

Sit at any bar in Italy for more than five minutes, and you will see glass after glass of orange-hued drinks being delivered to tables from 11am to 1am. Italians love them. Tourists love them. Venetians? Well… that’s a different story.

Because if you ask a local what a real Spritz is, you’ll probably get a raised eyebrow and a short history lesson.

This was our experience with Paolo, a Venetian-born bartender at Il Chioschetto TiroVino, who talked us through the real story of the spritz.

The Origin

The original Spritz was born out of necessity. In the 19th century, when Venice was under Austrian rule, the occupying troops had a notable drinking problem. Venetian wine was strong, plentiful, and consumed like beer. Tired of soldiers being drunk and disorderly, Emperor Franz Josef made it law that wine had to be served diluted with soda water – roughly a 50/50 split.

The Austrians called this act of topping up wine with water a spritz, from the German spritzen, meaning ‘to spray’. And just like that, the Spritz was born: no bitters, no garnish, no colour – just wine and bubbly water.

Giudecca, 1920: The Spritz Gets Colourful

Fast-forward to 1920, and across the water from central Venice on a neighbouring island, the Spritz had its first glow-up.

“The original Spritz was born in Giudecca Island in 1920 from Fratelli Pilla,” Paolo explains. Looking to breathe new life into their beloved Venice in the aftermath of World War I, Mario and Vittorio Pilla created Select in their small distillery in the Castello district. A deep red, bitter aperitivo infused with more than 30 botanicals – the brothers added Select to the traditional wine-and-soda base. For the first time, the Spritz had colour, bitterness, and character. According to Venetians, this is the original modern Spritz.

“It’s infused with more than thirty different botanicals. And this is the original one from Venice. For me, it’s the best.”

The Rise of Aperol

Aperol, meanwhile, is not Venetian – and Paolo has strong feelings about it. “Now the Aperol one comes from another town, 40km from here in Padova. It’s a very chemical drink. They have a lot of colourants inside. The quality of the drink is much, much lower than the original one from Venice.

“Aperol is a touristic one because they have really big marketing, you know – like McDonald’s or Coca-Cola.

“They are famous,” he shrugs. “But Select is the original Venetian one.”

The More Bitter, The Better

What really defines Venetian drinking culture isn’t sweetness or colour – it’s bitterness. This is a city that prefers its aperitivo to have some backbone.

If you’ve watched Venezia play in Serie B (live and free on DCTV), Cynar will ring a bell – the brand is the sponsor for the football club. “Cynar is an artichoke bitter,” explains Paolo as he free pours into a tall wine glass. Brown in colour, herbal, savoury, slightly strange if you’re not used to it, Cynar is the kind of drink locals sip because they like it, not because it photographs well.

Then there’s Campari, which gets a bit more reverence. “Campari is the oldest aperitivo in Italy,” Paolo says. Despite being invented in Milan, it is deeply respected in Venezia. “Who invented the aperitivo? Davide Campari in Milano,” he confirms.

Spritz, Football and Stadium Culture

One of the surprising things you notice when you explore Italy is how deeply aperitivo culture blends with matchday rituals. It’s not uncommon to see fans knocking back a spritz in a bar near the stadium long before kick-off – it goes hand-in-hand with the social buzz of Italian football.

In fact, Italy’s football experience outside the stadium is almost as much a part of the trip as the 90 minutes on the pitch. Locals and visitors gather at nearby bars or trattorie long before kick-off, enjoying a drink or two and soaking up the growing sense of anticipation. That’s part of the ritual, the communal warm-up before you go through the turnstiles.

Some stadiums, including Verona’s Stadio Marcantonia Bentegodi, serve up pre-mixed Campari spritzes, making the curva even more colourful. It beats a warm pint.