Negroni

The second of the great cocktails is the negroni, that ruby-red, super-bitter beauty that seems so civilised, yet packs a mighty punch. It’s a drink you grow into. My grandparents adored them, but we children thought them most peculiar. And pretty disgusting, too. But like the martini, they make for a perfect apéritif, clearing the palate and fuzzing the brain in the most civilised of ways.

They also provide endless post-prandial entertainment, as I found out last year in Sicily. Af