Harry's Bar: The Life and Times of the Legendary Venice Landmark - First edition

A meeting place for writers, artists, models, and the stars of stage, screen, and corporate boardrooms, a luxurious restaurant whose fabulous concoctions and timeless decor have often been imitated but never matched, Harry’s Bar in Venice has remained one of the world’s most renowned watering holes for more than sixty years. Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, Sinclair Lewis, and other luminaries have tasted its famous cocktails and enjoyed the bar’s original inventions, such as the “carpaccio” appetizer and the now-ubiquitous bellini. Filled with engaging wit and lighthearted charm, Arrigo Cipriani’s history of Harry’s Bar is a delight to read—and the next best thing to a table at Harry, For the weary traveler or isolated expat, there is nothing like finding that special bar or café that can make you feel welcome when you are far from home. While the desperate characters of Casablanca had Rick's Place, we have our favorites as well: Willi's Wine Bar in Paris, Jo's Bar in Prague, the Café Greco Antico in Rome, or Magaritsa in Sophia. Harry's Bar in Venice is such a spot--and one of the most famous at that. Just off the Palazzo San Marco, Harry's Bar has played host to such literary luminaries as Truman Capote and Ernest Hemingway, cinema heavyweights the likes of Orson Welles, and rich and powerful guests such as the Aga Khan. Harry's Bar is the biography of this institution. In this witty memoir, Arrigo Cipriani gives us the view from behind the bar, sharing anecdotes about the operation of the Venetian watering hole, disclosing secrets of mixacology, and passing on the old stories of his father, who cofounded Harry's in 1931.