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

by Arrigo Cipriani

A meeting place for writers, artists, models, and the stars of stage, screen, and corporate boardrooms, a luxurious restaurant whose fabulous concoctions and timeless decor have often been imitated but never matched, Harry’s Bar in Venice has remained one of the world’s most renowned watering holes for more than sixty years. Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, Sinclair Lewis, and other luminaries have tasted its famous cocktails and enjoyed the bar’s original inventions, such as the “carpaccio” appetizer and the now-ubiquitous bellini. Filled with engaging wit and lighthearted charm, Arrigo Cipriani’s 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

158 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 12, 2011

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.