Orange & Aperol

For ➊
5 cl Aperol
10-15 cl fresh orange juice*
ice
5 cl of ice-cold sparkling water

Mix the Aperol with ice cubes in a shaker. Pour into a high cocktail glass.
Add fresh orange juice, more ice and sparkling water.
Enjoy.

*Use half lemon, half orange juice. Or diluted rhubarber syrup. Or pureed watermelon or melon flesh. Adjust liquid.

Marinated orange carpaccio & Aperol granita

For ➍
8 oranges, 4 for serving
2 tbs pistachios, minced
fresh mint
granita:
2.5 dl Aperol
2.5 dl water
200 g sugar
zest of 1 orange
marinade:
2 dl fresh orange juice
50 g sugar
½ vanilla pod
½ ts pink peppercorns
1 quill cinnamon
1 star anise
lemon peel & orange zest for decoration

Prepare the granita the day before. Bring the water and sugar to a boil. Let this syrup cool. Dilute 2.5 dl Aperol and add 2.5 dl syrup. Finish with orange peel and mix carefully. Pour into the ice cube tray and freeze for 12 h.*
For the marinade: bring all ingredients to a boil and let cool in the fridge.
Peel 1 orange per person, cut into thin slices and arrange on a freezer cooled deep plate.
Pour a little marinade over it. Decorate with mint and minced pistachios.
Just before serving, place a scoop (or a nice ball) of granita* over it.

*To make the granita ready for serving, mix lightly in a food processor. Continue with a fork.
The traditional method is to freeze the liquid for 2 h, or until the mixture is frozen around the edges. With a fork, draw ice from the edges towards the centre. Return to the freezer, and then repeat this process about 3-4 times, every 30 m, or until all of the granita mixture is formed of ice crystals. Serve immediately.

Red negroni

For ➊
4 cl gin
4 cl Campari
4 cl sweet (red) vermouth

In a mixing glass, add ingredients and cracked ice. Stir for at least 15 s.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Twist an orange peel and garnish.

The negroni was invented in Florence, Italy in 1919, at Caffè Casoni. Count Negroni invented it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favorite cocktail, the americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water.
The 'negroni sbagliato' ("wrong negroni" in Italian) uses sparkling wine (e.g., prosecco) instead of gin.
Negroski is a recipe with vodka again as substitute for gin.
Cardinaloski is a negroski with some angostura drops.
Punt e Mes negroni instead replaces standard red vermouth with a specific, distinctively more bitter-tasting brand called Punt e Mes.
The cin cyn uses Cynar an artichoke based liquor, instead of Campari.
Pinkish negroni is made with pink wine (instead of gin).
A raultini is a variation using Aperol instead of Campari, giving its distinctive orange color, lighter alcohol content, and a bit of sweetness.
The most basic variation is served straight up in a martini glass with a splash of carbonated water floating on top of the alcohol mixture and a twist of lemon zest replacing the orange peel, known as the American version.
Other Italian versions substitute spumante brut or vodka for gin. A sparkling negroni is made with champagne or prosecco.

Spritz (Italian light cocktail)

For ➊
3 parts  white wine, sparkling wine like prosecco or spumante preferred, cooled
2 parts  aperitivo like Aperol (or Campari for a more bitter taste), cooled
2 parts  selzer or soda water, cooled
a slice of orange (or lemon when using a strong aperitivo)
some ice

Pour the wine and the aperitivo in a tumbler or stemmed wine glass. Add sparkling water (from a syphon if available). Add some ice and a slice of orange.

Serve with small bites of Italian snacks.

When Austria reigned the North of Italy, they developed a habit of diluting the wine with water, called 'Spritzer'. Italians rethought the formula by adding a bitter aperitivo to (sparkling) white wine, and tipping it with a splash of sparkling water, hence the Austrian name 'Spritz' or 'injection'. The typical Venetian spritz has 3 equal parts of each ingredient, other recipes tend to use 40% of wine, and 30% each of water and aperitivo. When using a sparkling wine and a low alcoholic aperitivo like Aperol, you can omit the sparkling water or limit it to a splash, 6 cl wine, 4 cl Aperol, splash of soda, the classic recipe of Aperol since 1950.
Normally, a red/orange aperitivo is used, but it can be replaced by others, like Cynar, or even the  orange-based curaçao blue (resulting in a blue cocktail).