The Great Venetian Spritz Off

With Aperol losing its fizz, Cynar—a faintly medicinal, artichoke-based liqueur—is suddenly on the rise

By Elena Clavarino

In 2023, a New York Times piece titled “The Martini Has Lost Its Mind” lamented how bartenders were suddenly using everything from Muscadet wine to kombu seaweed to chicken soup to make the classic cocktail. “The manic accessorizing of the martini is born not of creativity, but of competition,” it read. In Venice this week, as the Biennale unfurls across town, you can watch the same instinct express itself in wineglasses with very large straws. Only instead of the latest concoction, certain discerning attendees—the ones who have, pointedly, graduated from the Aperol spritz—are ordering a defiantly retro alternative, one that is muddy brown and faintly medicinal. READ ON