Duca di Bergamo Cocktail, Campari and Cognac from 1935
Reader ratingsLemon, Campari, Campari’s sweet cordial and old cognac, shaken and served with a candied cherry: a Lugano bartender’s cocktail, named for the Duke of Bergamo with his written permission in 1935.
- Recipe makes
- 1 small drink, about 2 1/2 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
Duca di Bergamo with a candied cherry in a small stemmed glass, beside a dish of two more.
The story behind the recipe
The Duca di Bergamo is a small, sweet Campari and cognac cocktail: a tenth lemon juice, a tenth Campari bitter, half Campari’s own sweet cordial and three tenths old cognac, shaken and served with a candied cherry. Elvezio Grassi, who ran the Bar Argentino in Lugano, printed it in 1936 at the front of his book 1000 misture, among his “super cocktails,” with a letter beside it.
Permission from the Duke
The letter is on the letterhead of the Duke of Bergamo’s military household, a prince of the House of Savoy, dated Milan, February 14, 1935. It tells Grassi that the Duke, having received his letter of January 22, “l’autorizza ad intitolare ‘DUCA DI BERGAMO’ la nuova ricetta per Cocktail”: authorizes him to name the new cocktail recipe “Duca di Bergamo.” The aide-de-camp who signed it was Lieutenant Colonel A. Negroni Prati Morosini. The surname is a coincidence as far as we know; nothing links him to the Count Negroni of the Negroni, whose story is told in Cocktails in 1920s London and Paris.
Read more about this recipe
The missing bottle
Half the drink is “Cordial Campari,” a sweet liqueur the firm sold beside its bitter, and not one we can buy today. A clear raspberry liqueur is our stand-in: sweet, fruity and pale, so the Campari still gives the color. With it, the drink is about 24% ABV.
“DUCA DI BERGAMO COCKTAIL”. Agitare nel shaker con ghiaccio: 10% Succo di limone. 10% Bitter CAMPARI. 50% Cordial CAMPARI. 30% Cognac vecchio. Versare nel bicchiere, e servire con ciliegia candita.
Our translation: Shake in the shaker with ice: 10% lemon juice, 10% Campari bitter, 50% Campari cordial, 30% old cognac. Pour into the glass and serve with a candied cherry.
Recipe makes: 1 small drink, about 2 1/2 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 small drink, about 2 1/2 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 small drink, about 2 1/2 fl oz.
- Fresh lemon juice1/4 fl oz
- Campari1/4 fl oz
- Clear raspberry liqueur1 1/4 fl oz
- Aged cognac3/4 fl oz
- Ice cubes1 cup
- Glacé (candied) cherry1
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1/4 fl oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 fl oz Campari
- 1 1/4 fl oz clear raspberry liqueur
- 3/4 fl oz aged cognac
- 1 cup ice cubes
- 1 glacé (candied) cherry
Equipment
Cocktail shaker and strainer
Small stemmed cocktail glass, about 3 fl oz
Instructions
Chill a small stemmed cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Put the ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and add the fresh lemon juice, Campari, clear raspberry liqueur and aged cognac.
Close the shaker and shake well for about 10 seconds.
Empty the glass if it holds ice water, strain the drink into it, drop in the glacé (candied) cherry and serve.
Nutrition
160calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 small drink, about 2 1/2 fl oz
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof cognac and lemon juice, and typical label values for Campari and a fruit liqueur, for one drink.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one small drink. Keep the shares the same when you scale, and shake no more than two at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
Grassi gives shares, not measures. His cocktails are served in glasses holding “da 70 a 80 grammi,” 70 to 80 grams, so the shares here add up to 2 1/2 fl oz. The raspberry liqueur replaces Cordial Campari, whose flavor Grassi doesn’t describe; any clear, sweet fruit liqueur of about 30% ABV works in its place. “Cognac vecchio” means old cognac: a VSOP is a good fit.
Campari’s red, without the alcohol, is nearest in the Orange Phosphate, blood orange and raspberry syrup with soda water.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Elvezio Grassi, 1000 misture (Bologna: Licinio Cappelli, 1936), front section “I Super Cocktails Moderni”, “Duca di Bergamo Cocktail”, with the Duke’s letter of February 14, 1935; translation ours
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- Italian
- Source decade
- 1930s
- Base
- Brandy
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Dinner party