The Venetian spritz. Select, made in Venice since 1920, is more bitter and herbal than Aperol, with rhubarb and juniper among its botanicals, and in Venice it comes with a green olive.
The proportions here, three parts Prosecco to two of Select and one of soda, keep the drink dry enough for Select’s rhubarb and juniper bitterness to come through clearly. The olive is the choice that matters: its brine sharpens that bitter edge in a way an orange slice never will.
Select Spritz
Prep 3 min · Serves 1 · Difficulty Easy
Fill a wine glass with ice.
Pour Prosecco and Select Aperitivo.
Top with a splash of soda water.
Stir gently.
Garnish with a green olive.
Select was created in the Sestiere di Castello, in Venice, on 29 May 1920, by the brothers Mario and Vittorio Pilla, who built their liqueur house there in the years after the war. By the company’s own account, the poet Gabriele D’Annunzio gave it its name at a dinner on the Giudecca during the Festa del Redentore, coining Select from the Latin selectus, meaning chosen. The recipe leans on juniper berries and rhubarb root for its bitterness, and Venice still serves the Select spritz with a green olive rather than an orange slice.
Select was first made in 1920 in Venice’s Castello district by the Pilla brothers, and the spritz built on it is the one Venetians order at the counter of a bacaro. It comes with a large green olive, the way the city’s traditional bars still serve it.
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