Lavorato!

The Camparino bar was open today, and I ordered a Lavorato Secco: 1 part Cent’erbe liqueur, made by Zucca exclusively for the bar, 1 part Campari, 1 part Rabarbaro Zucca, a spritz of seltzer and a slice of orange. A large, impatient, ravenously hungry guy next to me was eating crisps by the fistful under the disapproving eye of the barman. The kind lady at the till (pay first, drink later) explained that faithful customers can ask to buy the Cent’erbe from the bar, but that the result at home is not as good. The Camparino’s fizzy water is special, she said, comes from the basement where a cooler and a pump make it from first principles. It just has more, better and different fizz than you can get elsewhere. The bar is so small you’re practically certain to be standing where Puccini once stood, having just completed the overture to an opera in good time, i.e. with three hours to go till the premiere.