Gaspare Campari first made Campari in 1860, in the caffè he ran in Novara, about fifty kilometres west of Milan. He called it Bitter all'uso d'Hollanda. In 1867 he opened a bar in Milan's new Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and when he died in 1882 his son Davide took over the business and began selling abroad.
The recipe has never been published. What is known is that herbs and fruit, among them chinotto, a bitter citrus, and cascarilla bark, are infused in alcohol and water. The company describes the result as a brilliant clear red, with herbal, orange and floral aromas and a pleasantly bitter, velvety aftertaste. Production moved on 1 October 1904 to a new factory at Sesto San Giovanni, on the edge of Milan, which brought mechanisation and rail links. In 1932 the company launched Campari Soda, a ready-mixed bottle in a cone shape designed by Fortunato Depero.
Bitterness is the point of Campari, so it is usually paired with something sweet or fizzy. It is a key ingredient in the Negroni, with gin and sweet vermouth, and in the Americano and the Boulevardier. Mixed with soda over ice, or topped with prosecco for a spritz, it keeps the flavour front and centre.