Why Italy’s Favourite Evening Drink Has Surprising Austrian Roots

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Every evening across northern Italy, a ritual begins. Glasses fill with ice, a splash of bitter orange, a pour of prosecco, a top of soda. The Spritz — Italy’s most beloved pre-dinner drink — arrives without ceremony, as if it has always been there.

It has. But its origins have almost nothing to do with Italy.

When Austria Ruled the Veneto

In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, Austria took control of much of northern Italy — including the Veneto, the region stretching from Venice to Verona, from Treviso to the Prosecco hills.

Austrian soldiers arrived and found the local wines unlike anything at home. Rich, full-bodied, and high in alcohol, they were hard going on long afternoons in the sun.

Their solution was simple. They asked bartenders to add a splash of still water — a “spritz” — from the German verb spritzen, meaning to spray or splash. The Italians noticed. And then, slowly, they started to adapt the idea.

How the Veneto Transformed a Soldier’s Request

Rather than simply adding water, bartenders in cities like Treviso, Padua, and Venice began experimenting. They swapped still water for sparkling mineral water — lighter, more refreshing. Then came local bitters: herbal liqueurs and amaros that gave the drink colour, depth, and a pleasant sharpness.

Each city developed its own variation. In Venice, Select — a vivid red bitter made with 30 botanicals — became the local choice. In the bacari, the ancient wine bars tucked into alleyways barely wide enough for two people, the ritual of standing with a small glass before dinner was already centuries old. The Spritz gave that ritual a new form.

In 1919, brothers Luigi and Silvio Barbieri launched Aperol in Padua. Named after apero — an old European word for aperitif — it was bright orange, mild, and lower in alcohol than most bitters. It became the perfect foundation for a pre-dinner drink. The Spritz Veneziano had found its essential companion.

The Drink That Belonged to One Region

For most of the twentieth century, the Spritz remained a secret of the Veneto. Travellers passing through Venice or Verona would see locals gathered in squares, glasses of vivid orange in hand, and wonder what they were drinking.

Nobody called it a trend. Nobody wrote guides about it. It was simply what you did in the hour before dinner — the hour that belonged to conversation, to the street, to nothing in particular.

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Why the World Finally Noticed

It was only in the 2000s that the Spritz began its global journey. The Campari Group — which by then owned Aperol — launched international campaigns. By 2019, Aperol Spritz had become one of the five best-selling cocktail brands in the world.

People across Europe and America were discovering, with genuine excitement, a drink that people in Treviso had been ordering without thinking for nearly two centuries.

The Veneto watched with quiet amusement. And ordered another round.

What a Spritz Really Means

Ordering a Spritz in Italy is not simply ordering a drink. It is accepting an invitation to slow down.

It signals: the work day is finished. There is no rush. This hour belongs to the street, to whoever is beside you, to the particular pleasure of standing still in a busy piazza with nowhere else to be.

That feeling did not come from a campaign or a trend. It came from Austrian soldiers who found local wine too strong, and from the people of the Veneto who took that small practical request and turned it into something lasting.

The Prosecco hills of Valdobbiadene are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Glera grapes grown on those terraced slopes have been cultivated here for centuries. They still pour into every bottle of Prosecco that finds its way into a Spritz glass.

The Austrian soldiers who first asked for a splash of water never knew what they had started. The Veneto did. Every Spritz carries two hundred years of that history in a single glass.

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Plan Your Italy Trip

Ready to experience the Spritz where it belongs — glass in hand in a Veneto piazza? Start your Italian adventure with The Ultimate Italy Travel Guide, packed with everything you need to plan an unforgettable trip.

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