Harry's Bar: The Life and Times of the Legendary Venice Landmark

by Arrigo Cipriani

Now in paperback, the inside story of one of the world's most renowned watering holes, legendary since the days of Hemingway.

Harry's Bar in Venice has remained one of the world's most storied watering holes, as entrenched a fixture of the Venetian landscape as the Doge's Palace, the Basilica, and the Piazza San Marco. It has been a meeting place for writers, artists, models, and stars, a luxurious restaurant whose concoctions and timeless decor have often been imitated but never matched. Written by the son of the founder and a prominent restaurateur in his own right, here is its history.

Founded in 1931 by a humble but enterprising Venetian barman named Giuseppe Cipriani and a wealthy American named Harry Pickering,
it soon hosted regulars Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, Sinclair Lewis, the Agha Khan, and many other luminaries. We follow Giuseppe and his son Arrigo through World War II, when Harry's Bar was requisitioned by the fascists and turned into a mess hall for Mussolini's navy, while the real festive meals were served at the Cipriani house; the liberation in 1945, when Allied Army officers took up virtual residence at the bar and tossed Giuseppe around the dining room like a rugby ball; and through the postwar years, when Harry's Bar became a virtual club for the world's glitterati.

Here too are the stories behind the Ciprianis' great inventions, from the "carpaccio" appetizer, which has become a generic term for thinly sliced raw meat or raw fish with a white sauce, to the bellini, the now famous pink cocktail made of pureed white peaches and Italian champagne. The author also tells the story of Harry's New York nephews, Harry Cipriani on Fifth Avenue, the only restaurant ever stolen from its director between lunch and dinner, and the Bellini in the old Taft Hotel.

Filled with Arrigo Cipriani’s engaging wit and lighthearted charm, this history of Harry’s Bar is a delight to read—and the next best thing to a table at Harry’s Bar itself. 

Genres: Nonfiction, History

216 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd little hodgepodge, Harry’s Bar is a quick, mostly engaging memoir that succeeds on the strength of its author’s considerable gift for storytelling. Born into a tavern-keeping family, trained as a lawyer, and having nearly a half-century’s experience in high-end hospitality when he wrote Harry’s Bar, author Arrigo Cipriani knows how to turn a phrase and embroider an anecdote. He has a soft spot for eccentrics, and his sketches are populated by the threadbare heirs of Venice’s noble families, glamorous international tourists, and hapless nouveaux riches. Fans of John Berendt’s City of Falling Angels will feel right at home in Harry’s Bar.

It was, of course, Hemingway’s connection to Harry’s Bar that drew me to the book, and I was delighted to see how prominently his 1949-50 Venice trip figures into Cipriani's recollections. Hemingway was working on Across the River and into the Trees (ARIT) that winter and, Cipriani recalls, “divided his time between Harry’s Bar in Venice and the island of Torcello in the lagoon, where my father owned a small guesthouse” (58). I had forgotten that detail, which provides context for repeated asides about the island in ARIT. Cipriani shares dishy anecdotes about Orson Welles, Truman Capote, Aristotle Onassis, and other mid-century A-listers, but EH seems dear to him. Here’s another memory: “All that winter, while Hemingway appeared to spend the day in total freedom, he was in fact implacably rigorous and precise about his work. Every evening at ten, with extremely rare exceptions, he closed up shop and went to his apartment to write. He would order six bottles of a Verona wine, Amarone, which lasted the night. In the morning we would find the empties” (62). Impressive.

The first chapter tells Cipriani’s father’s story in the founder’s own words, and it’s stirring. It could be inspirational treacle, but Giuseppe Cipriani is a born raconteur who leavens irony with good natured humor. Thereafter, the younger Cipriani’s personal recollections fill most of the book: growing up under Fascism, dipping a toe into the family business after the war, stepping into his father’s shoes, and becoming the patriarch of Cipriani S.A. The remaining quarter-or-so of the book comprises sundry notes on the family business, from how regular customers should be addressed to advice on selecting tableware and furniture, from catty critiques of culinary trends to settling scores with former business partners, and so on. Dominating the latter chapters, these passages and are by turns fascinating and tedious. Nevertheless, even Cipriani’s drier monologues are sprinkled with tasty fodder for cocktail party chatter. One learns, for example, how come Harry’s Bar is so difficult to find, why the martinis there are served in squat tumblers, how carpaccio got its name, what goes into an authentic Bellini, etc. But the final chapter is one course too many, and it may be skipped without regret.

[Carolyn Deboer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short book about the history of this landmark institution and the endeavors to expand a good thing into franchising and other locations. Sometimes a good thing is better left to the original place and people for which it was made a success and not try to make it more. Restaurants are hard anyway.

The historical name dropping was fun to hear. The mispronunciation and anglification of French words hurt my ears. The American narrator needs to not pronounce "Lyon" as "lion" and etc.

[Jordan R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of stories about the patrons who frequented the bar, from the strange to the wealthy to the famous. I was not familiar with Harry’s Bar prior to reading. If I find myself in that area, I will stop and make a visit.

[Amanda Schifino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to get through.