Harry's Bar, Venice

Harry’s Bar is the restaurant at Calle Vallaresso 1323, still associated with the Cipriani company. Its story begins with a remarkable act of generosity: Giuseppe Cipriani lent Harry Pickering 10,000 lire when the young American had been left without money, and Pickering returned two years later with 50,000 lire, providing the means to open this bar. Harry’s Bar opened in 1931, and its name honours Pickering.

The place is especially known for two creations that travelled far beyond Venice: the Bellini cocktail and carpaccio. Giuseppe Cipriani devised the Bellini in 1948 from sparkling wine and white-peach purée. In 1950, he created carpaccio as thin slices of raw beef arranged with a sauce of his own invention.

The dish took its name from Vittore Carpaccio, whose paintings were being exhibited in Venice at the time. Ernest Hemingway became a regular during the winter between 1949 and 1950, with a table reserved for him, and he mentioned the bar repeatedly in his novel Across the River and into the Trees. The restaurant was declared a national landmark by Italy’s Ministry for Cultural Affairs in 2001. What you are seeing is a working restaurant with an unusually influential place in culinary history.