There are bars that have invented famous cocktails. There are restaurants that have invented famous dishes. There are very few places that have done both. Harry's Bar in Venice, opened by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1931 right on the St Mark's bay waterfront, is one of them. The drink is the Bellini, a mixture of white peach juice and sparkling prosecco, named after the fifteenth-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini. The dish is Carpaccio of beef, a plate of trimmed sirloin sliced wafer thin and dressed with a Jackson Pollock spray of mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice, which was invented for an Italian contessa who was on a diet free of cooked meat. It too was named after an Italian painter, Vittore Carpaccio, who was famous for his love of deep reds.
For habitués of Harry's Bar - and they are many - these are the incidentals. They may like the Carpaccio and the Bellini but what they really go there for is the atmosphere. 'There's just something very striking and pungent about it,' says the writer Jan Morris, who has been going since 1946 and who will be there again this Christmas. 'It has managed to stay the same and I think it's done it through sheer force of character. The employees always seem to be the same people. They can't be, of course, but they always seem that way.' Perhaps they are. It is not unusual for the staff at Harry's Bar to stay for a decade or two. Paulo Rossi, in the kitchen, has been at the stoves for 25 years. Claudio Ponzio, the head barman has been filling glasses for 32 years.
It is not overly smart, but it is stylish: from the comfortable banquettes, to the butterscotch wood trim, from the subtle yellow linen and the diminutive shot glasses to the repeated Harry's Bar monogram across everything (a stylised bar man shaking a cocktail), it all speaks of a particular kind of slick comfort. 'We simply try to be ourselves,' says Arrigo Cipriani, Giuseppe's son, who first started working in the bar when he was 19 and who is still there, as owner, aged 70. 'I think there is a spirit that people understand.'
Certainly they know not to expect great culinary innovation, just Italian classics, expertly executed. 'We don't have chefs,' Arrigo says. 'They are a killer. Instead we have cooks.' So there's pasta with wild mushrooms or scampi all'Armoricaine (a tomato, herb and wine sauce); there's prawns with garlic and minestrone soup. There's tripe and risotto and tuna tartare. The regulars also know to pay through the nose for these things, for Harry's Bar is not cheap. Each day's menu includes the exchange rate for nine different currencies and it does not take much understanding of maths to work out that a lengthy stay will leave its mark. That minestrone soup works out at £15 a bowl. The scampi costs £36, as does the beef Carpaccio.
The prices have not deterred people. Ernest Hemingway was a regular from 1949 onwards and he set scenes in the bar in his novel Across the River and into the Trees.
'I think solitude frightened him,' Arrigo wrote once, of Hemingway, 'and that was why he always sought the company of others.' At Harry's he could be sure of finding company. The Aga Khan had to be carried to the door in his own armchair and always ate the same thing, caviar followed by ravioli; Orson Welles would down two bottles of Dom Perignon at one sitting and Truman Capote would order the prawn sandwiches. Today, when the Venice film festival rolls into town with its freight of Hollywood celebrity, it is unloaded into Harry's Bar. Woody Allen always comes when he is in town and Nicole Kidman and Helen Hunt have visited recently too.
Its sustained pulling power is all the more remarkable given the vast expansion the company has undergone in the past two decades. Harry's Bar is now the anchor to a global brand, positioned around the Cipriani name. In New York there's the restaurant Harry Cipriani, Cipriani 42nd Street plus another called DownTown. They also run Manhattan's famous Rainbow Rooms, a travel company and an outside catering company. There are three outlets in Buenos Aires and another in Venice, called Harry's Dolci. (Confusingly, the Cipriani Hotel in Venice is not owned or run by the same company.) Then there are the ranges of pastas and sauces, olive oils and coffee. There are books and there is kitchenware.
And yet, for all this aggressive marketing, Harry's Bar itself seems somehow to have stayed as it always was. 'Some people go once and say it's just a tourist trap,' says Jan Morris. 'But if you look you soon realise that it is full of regulars who go there every week or every day.' She recognises faces every time she goes in, she says, and she expects to do so again when she's there next month. As to how to get a table, Arrigo Cipriani can offer a tip. 'My father always said that you should first seat the people who are by themselves because they have no one to talk to.' You may be alone but, at Harry's Bar, the potential for people watching will more than make up for it.
The barman
Claudio Ponzio, Head barman at Harry's Bar
Describe your crowd
To say that the clientele here is varied would be a serious understatement - we see all types of people in Harry's Bar and that is the one single thing that makes this such a unique place to work. Of course there are the international celebrities, but there is also the famed Senator's Table reserved for our distinguished long-time local clients. We have many Italian visitors, foreigners from all over the world, simple people, friendly people and very difficult, demanding people. Let's just call it tutto il mondo, and over the 32 years I've been behind the bar, I can't really say that our crowd has changed much, the old ones just get replaced by new ones.
What is your most popular drink
For a bar that is open from midday through till midnight, I've discovered that everything depends on what time you're talking about, because the customer's preference changes depending on the hour. But the one sure cocktail that is perfect whatever the time, whatever the season, is the Bellini, invented by the founder of Harry's Bar, Giuseppe Cipriani. I'd say that every customer here ends up having a Bellini at some time.
What drink will be big next year
This is not the kind of bar that follows trends and fashions. Here it is always the classics: Manhattan, Rob Roy, Whisky Sour, and our martini which we only serve with an olive if the customer really insists.
What do you say when it's time for someone to leave
We rarely get into this difficult situation with our customers, and I'm always prepared to strongly suggest that they change to a coffee or water before matters get out of hand. Getting home in Venice is not problematic - although there is always the risk of falling into a canal. Once, when there was Aqua Alta flooding, one of the waiters had to carry a distinguished nobleman piggyback through the water to catch his boat home.
Do people still pour out all their troubles to the barman
Oh yes. That is one thing that has never changed, and as the barman here I have to be the confidant of all my customers, in all the different languages they speak.
What makes a great barman
Experience. The eye. Something you're born with. What you must possess is the natural intuition to judge the mood of the customer sitting opposite you. That is crucial. Then it is basically a mix of technique - which you pick up, if you're lucky as I was, to train with wonderful colleagues - and your own personality.
What makes a great bar
The key word is familiarity, creating a mood, an ambiance, whereby the customer feels he has been invited as a special guest in your own home. You must listen to the client like a friend, the service must be perfect, the decor, the barman. And of course, there is the smile. There must always be the smile.
What do you drink at home
I get home late, in the early hours. I cook myself a steak, prepare a salad, and relax with a few glasses of vino rosso. And if I feel like spoiling myself, I open a bottle of Venegazzu Capo di Stato, named in honour of General de Gaulle.
How has Harry's Bar changed in the time you've worked there
In the 32 years I've worked in Harry's Bar I don't believe it has changed at all, we have simply grown old together. That is the secret of its unique success.
Recipe for Bellini
One third fresh peach juice and two thirds chilled Prosecco sparkling wine. Make sure to pour the peach juice into the glass first.
John Brunton
WHEN HARRY MET...
Diners past and present
Ernest Hemingway
Truman Capote
Maria Callas
Orson Welles
The Aga Khan
Aristotle Onassis
Peggy Guggenheim
Henry Fonda
Woody Allen
Helen Hunt
Nicole Kidman
What to eat
Carpaccio alla Cipriani
Scampi all'Armoricaine
Trippa alla Parmigiana
What to drink
Bellini
Whisky Sour
Martini
The bill
At least £80 a head for the works
What to say
My usual, please Claudio
What not to say
How much?
