Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Spritz Campiglio Style


A few months ago while in Vicenza these two piglets reintroduced themselves to an aperitif Vicentina, the now infamous Spritz. Although good, Snow White felt her favorite had to give her allegiance to Italian bollicini finding the Spritz to be good but not exceptional. Now, she has changed her tune after having these in Campiglio style, in fact she now talks about them non-stop. The difference is in the type of white wine used; at Vicenza these are made haphazardly as far as measuring is concerned with. They contain white wine, Aperol and bright orange bitter and water and a little bit of ice.

While visiting Campiglio, they stumbled on a fantastic “watering hole” for their preferred bar. Not only because the prices were fair but also the Spritz was out of this world always accompanied with small cutting boards of Spec or cheese. The first time ordering these Campiglio Spritz, these two were amazed at how good they were and ended up doing a second round. After that little sosta, this drink became their all time favorite particularly after coming down off the mountains in the afternoons from their hikes. Until Golden Piglet told her what went into them, Ms White had no clue as to the “why” of her preference and here is the secret: instead of any old white wine, they use Prosecco (no wonder)!

The glasses are well stocked with ice Aperol, Prosecco and some water although we do not know the right proportions of each ingredient except the ice. ;-) After about the fourth time at the watering hole, they talked to their "tender" and he told them the Spritz is not only the “in” drink (he serves gazillions of them) but has become the preferred cocktail of the “in” places and of that area. Curiously, while strolling the main square in front of the Swiss Chalet Bar/Café they noted there was nothing but the orange drinks on almost every table. Looking at each other and thinking the same thing, they decided to test one out at “the Swiss” suisse and compare it to their favorite bar tender’s special. The drink was good, served in smaller wine glasses but it just did not have the flavor of the other; must be the type of Prosecco used. So, on their last day before reentry, they had their farewell Spritz and will not have another until they return to that area (would hate to ruin a great memory)! Looks like they will be making plans to had back there real soon, the withdrawals are terrible.

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