Apart from having been a majestic writer capable of creating history-based incredible worlds and unforgettable characters (if you have not ready his books do that and you will agree with me), Umberto Eco was admittedly a Martini lover. As one can expect from the character, he did not just drink Martinis: he analyzed them and their meaning, wrote about them, and treated the cocktail as what he called a nepente—an ancient Greek term for a mythical medicine that banishes sorrow.
As he wrote in the preface to the (nout out of stock) Italian edition of Martini Straight Up by Lowell Edmunds Eco preferred his Gin Martini on the rocks, a not uncommon choice especially in the 70s or 80s, and – according to legendary Italian bartender Mauro Lotti -a way to drink Martini that is typical of “intellectuals”, who prefer drinks that can accompany long debates and conversations. Also, in the preface Eco makes clear that his dream is “to have in every city in the world a bar where I can enter and say ‘the usual,’ and possibly another where I don’t have to say anything, and I am automatically served a Gin Martini on the rocks, obviously in proportions of 16:1”. I have to say I fully share this ambition.
In his various essays and musings on mixology (including co-authoring a rare 1961 book called Shaker. Il libro dei cocktail long before he was a famous novelist), Eco dropped several gems regarding bars, drinking and Martinis:
- The Law of Three: Eco maintained that three Martinis was the exact “minimum number of which a gentleman has need” during an evening of deep conversation.
- The Multitasking Prohibition: A proper Martini demands focus. Eco loved the fact that a Martini forces you to pay attention to it: when you drink a Martini, you drink a Martini.
- The Martini Geography: He kept a strict mental map of the few sanctuaries where he didn’t have to explain himself—three bars in Bologna, two in Milan, and the bar at the old Latham Hotel in Philadelphia, while he famously complained that the French had no idea how to make a proper Martini.
Going back to dreams, a Martini with professor Eco would be surely in my list.
The Martini Hour 