---
title: "Venetian Summer: Harry's Bar Classic Cocktail Named After a Painting"
description: The real history of the Bellini cocktail, invented at Venice's Harry's Bar in 1948, its name, its seasonal origins and why it still defines a certain kind of...
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-07-20T14:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-20T14:48:54.945Z
canonical: https://richtravelmagazine.com/article/venice-harry-s-bar-classic
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-two-glasses-of-iced-tea-in-a-cozy-cafe-sunlit-ambiance-creat-38618571.jpg
categories: Destinations
content_type: Guide
region: Italy
publication: Rich Travel Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

---

Most cocktails are named for the person who supposedly drank them first, or the place they were supposedly invented. The Bellini is named for neither.[ Giovanni Bellini](https://), the man behind the name, died in 1516, more than four centuries before Giuseppe Cipriani mixed the first glass at Harry's Bar in Venice in 1948. Cipriani was not toasting the painter. He was describing a colour.

## A bar named after a debt, not a founder

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