The Original Bellini Cocktail Was Inspired By A 15th-Century Painting

Warm weather, summer BBQs, and lazy Sunday afternoons can only mean one thing, the return of the Bellini. Whether you prefer your Bellini served with a beautifully prepared restaurant-style meal or enjoyed on its own by the seaside, the Bellini is known by many as the perfect summer cocktail. 

While the drink's Italian-sounding name may give away the secret of the cocktail's origins, the drink's Italian roots go back even further than you may think. The drink is named after the paintings of 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini.

Chef and restauranteur Giuseppe Cipriani dreamed up the first peach-filled Bellini as a seasonal cocktail to be served in his Venice watering hole, Harry's Bar, in 1948. The inspiration came from the pink hues found in the works of Bellini, an Italian Renaissance painter. While it isn't known exactly which of Bellini's paintings inspired his namesake drink, the artist is known for his paintings of religious figures set amidst a landscape of warm pink and orange shades. The white peaches and raspberry juice found in the drink give it the characteristic rosy glow that evokes the paintings that inspired it. 

The Bellini was an instant success with the patrons at Harry's Bar, so much so that the bar once employed several workers tasked with puréing peaches for the multitude of Bellinis that would be ordered during the summer months, as chronicled in "Harry's Bar," a book by Cipriani's son, Arrigo Cipriani. 

Following its success in Venice, the Bellini soon found its way to other European cities like Paris and eventually across the pond to New York City. Cipriani's combination of Prosecco and peach purée has remained popular throughout the decades, as evidenced by its appearance on the menus of both high-end bars and chain restaurants alike, and its inclusion in the International Bartenders Association's list of Contemporary Classics. 

Harry's Bar, and his Bellini cocktails, were once enjoyed by notable celebrities like Ernest Hemingway and Humphrey Bogart. Today, heading to Harry's Bar for a Bellini has become something of a pilgrimage for many food and cocktail enthusiasts, with many visitors taking to the internet to document their Bellini experience online. While a trip to Venice to sip on a Bellini and view Bellini's paintings in a museum would be the culinary vacation of a lifetime, a Bellini served at your favorite local watering hole or from the comfort of your backyard will probably do the trick for setting the mood for summer.