More Than A Spritz In Venice

When an iconic bitters comes home

More than a century ago, a spritz, was just a spritzen of soda water meant to tamp down overly shape wine for interloping Austrian soldiers meandering around Venice. Over the decades, Venetians developed a taste for the bubbly drink, but wanted something more . . . Venetian.

“Customers began walking into [Venice] bars and asking for a spritz with a little bit more kick. That’s when Select was added,” tells Rudi Carraro, Gruppo Montenegro global brand ambassador. And just like that, Venice’s hometown hero perfected the spritz.

Invented by brothers Vittorio and Mario Pilla in 1920, Select Aperitivo was the only local-made botanical to spice up Venice’s signature aperitivo. For decades it brewed and bottled in the Castello neighborhood before moving to terra firma, aka Bologna, when it joined Gruppo Montenegro.

Today’s Select may no longer a brotherly venture, but Gruppo Montenegro has brought the botanical back to Venice – this time to a former workshop in the quiet Cannaregio neighborhood.

Know as Ca’ Select, the lab space is a triple-threat venue. There is onsite, glass-enclosed production lab where batches of the Pilla brothers’ recipe of more than 30 local herbs and spices including cardamom, juniper, vanilla and rhubarb root are mixed up in a process that takes nine months.

The ground floor is a lounge/tasting room where spritz lovers can put a few back and even mix up some Select spritz, while the balcony features an interactive museum where game-ified displays and table tops share Select’s origin story. The venue is open for events.

Where to enjoy Select aperitivi in Venice

In Venice, it’s easy to find a Select Spritz. Bars in each of Venice’s six sestieri (neighbourhoods), proudly stock the hometown bitters but Select is more than a spritz. While we wait for the next Ca’ Select party, here are five gorgeous locations to enjoy a Select cocktail anytime of the year.

Sestiere San Polo – Aman The Bar

Quite possibly the most beautiful palace in Venice, the famed Palazzo Papadopoli is home to Aman The Bar on its gorgeous piano. This is where you’ll want to come for a rainy evening aperitivo, as you sip a Boulevardier (Select, Woodford, Sherry, cardamom bitter and a dash of orange oil) among ceiling frescoes, gilded mirrors, Rezzonico chandeliers, a scene straight out of the Rococo.

Sestiere Castello – Ca’ di Dio Alchemia Bar

On the edge of Riva degli Schiavoni and Riva di Ca’ di Dio, Ca’ di Dio Alchemia Bar is a tiny bar hidden in Ca di Dio hotel and the drink is the eponymous Ca di Dio. A variation on the spritz, Ca di Dio blends Select, vaniglia, pomegranate, and tonic water for Spring and Summers’ refresher cocktail.

Sestiere Dorsoduro – Il Palazzo Experimental Bar

The southern side of Dorsoduro is known for its beatific quietude and views of vaporettos buzzing up and down the Giudecca Canal. Prime viewing location is the bar at Il Palazzo Experimental with a Stronger, a Select and tequila cocktail with rum, red vermouth, capers and plum.

San Marco – St. Regis Arts Bar and Grand Cafe Quadri

St. Regis Arts Bar is the perfect location for a sunset drink as the Grand Canal spreads out in all its glory, but personally I prefer an evening nightcap with maestro bar director Facundo Gallego. His cocktails are among the best- from ingredeints to names like the Doge’s Tipple, where Gallego mixes a vermouth with Venetian artichoke-infused vermouth with Select and Amaro Venesian (made with local herbs. And it gets even better when Marco Schwaiger, Arts Bar resident crooner, is singing.

Grand Caffe Quadri is St. Mark’s Square quintessential address since its 1775 opening. And if you must have Venice’s quintessential spritz, this is definitely where you need to be sitting. Quadri’s Veneziano is Select Spritz with Prosecco DOCG Borgoluce Brut, seltzer water and a front row view of the Basilica of San Marco.