Harry's Bar is a restaurant located at Calle Vallaresso 1323,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, owned by Cipriani S.A.

History

Harry's Bar was opened in 1931 by Giuseppe Cipriani.Harry's Bar of Venice - a modern Italian landmark
CNN.com, 13 October 2000. According to the company's history, Harry Pickering, a rich young American, had been frequenting the Hotel Europa in Venice, where Cipriani was a bartender. When Pickering suddenly stopped coming to the hotel bar, Cipriani asked him why. Pickering explained that he was broke because his family found out his drinking habits and cut him off financially, and Cipriani lent him 10,000 lire (then about $500 US 7,839 in 2015 dollars. Two years later, Pickering returned to the hotel bar, ordered a drink, and gave Cipriani 50,000 lire in return. "Mr. Cipriani, thank you," he said, according to the Cipriani website. "Here's the money. And to show you my appreciation, here's 40,000 more, enough to open a bar. We will call it Harry's Bar." The Italian Ministry for Cultural Affairs declared it a national landmark in 2001.Harry's Bar
at cipriani.com

Patrons

Harry's Bar has long been frequented by famous people, and it was a favourite of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

. Other notable customers have included Italian conductor

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

, inventor

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, Jimmy Stewart, Richard Burton,

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, Baron

Philippe de Rothschild Philippe, Baron de Rothschild (13 April 1902 – 20 January 1988) was a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty who became a Grand Prix motor racing driver, a screenwriter and playwright, a theatrical producer, a film producer, a poet, and one ...

Giuseppe Sinopoli Giuseppe Sinopoli (; 2 November 1946 – 21 April 2001) was an Italian conductor and composer. Biography Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin ...

, Princess Aspasia of Greece,

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...

, Barbara Hutton,

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with t ...

Tareq Salahi Tareq Dirgham Salahi is an American vintner, International polo player, travel/tourism expert, television personality and winery owner. Salahi has appeared in two reality-television shows: ''Where the Elite Meet'', and NBC Universal/Bravo's '' ...

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

, the Mundys, Joelle Verasammy, Alex Mackwood, Iryna Petrenko, Olga Ivanchuk, and

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

. The bar was also briefly mentioned in the second and subsequent editions of Evelyn Waugh's novel '' Brideshead Revisited'' (in the first edition Waugh simply called the bar "the English bar") as a frequent haunt of principal characters Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte during their time in Venice. The mention is anachronistic as their visit takes place in 1923.

Food and drink

Harry's Bar is home of the Bellini and Carpaccio.Rayner, Jay
Harry's Bar, Venice
''The Observer'', 11 November 2001. Harry's Bar is also famous for its dry martini, which is served in a small glass without a stem. Their dry martinis are very dry, apparently with the ratio of 10 parts

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...

to 1 part vermouth. This is an adaptation of the Montgomery Martini, which is 15 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth. The Montgomery is named after British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who liked to have a 15 to 1 ratio of his own troops against enemy troops on the battlefield. Harry's Bar serves classic Italian dishes. Its prices are relatively high (40,000 lire (€20) for a bowl of minestrone, in 2001).

Expansion

Harry's Bar is today "the anchor to a global brand, positioned around the Cipriani name." In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the Ciprianis run the restaurants Harry Cipriani, Cipriani 42nd Street, and DownTown, a travel company, and a catering company.

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

is home to three more outlets. In Venice, the Ciprianis also own Harry's Dolci. The Cipriani brand also includes lines of pastas, sauces, olive oils, coffee, books, and kitchenware. In 2007 the Ciprianis pleaded guilty to

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 2012, with debts of over €6m, the bar was sold to Luxembourg-based investment group Blue Skye.The Caterer: Owners of iconic Harry’s Bar pushed out after 80 years, December 2012
/ref>

Reception

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

was of the opinion that, "you get a pretty good plate of food—and the Bellinis are just fine. They just cost a fuck of a lot. But they do treat you courteously and it ''is'' Venice out the window—and everything's expensive anyway."

References

External links

Cipriani website

Harry's Bar
at cipriani.com
Harry's Bar paintingsHarry's Bar Venezia fan site
{{Coord, 45, 25, 57, N, 12, 20, 14, E, region:IT-34_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Drinking establishments in Europe Food and drink companies of Italy Buildings and structures in Venice Restaurants in Italy Tourist attractions in Venice Restaurants established in 1931 1931 establishments in Italy 20th-century establishments in Venice