We like this aperitif very much. It's about as alcoholic as vermouth, and if you mix it with soda water, pour it over ice, and serve it with a slice of orange, you have a fine, refreshing beverage for a hot day.

Campari is flavored with herbs, but we've never quite figured out which ones. (Nor have we ever understood the Campari advertisements.) The recipe for Campari has remained a guarded secret since Gaspare Campari invented this bitter in 1860, after 18 years of mixing liqueurs.

Mr. Campari was determined to create something of his own, something original that nobody had ever made before, and that nobody would ever succeed in copying, according to Campari: The Story of an Aperitif and a Cordial. As far as we can tell, he's succeeded.

Interestingly enough, though, Mr. Campari gave credit where credit wasn't due, at least according to Campari, which was published by the Campari company in 1960. Mr. Campari christened his liqueur Bitter all'uso d'Hollanda ("bitter in the Dutch style"). But according to the book, "The mixture that he so to speak dedicated to Holland had nothing Dutch about it; it was purely his own invention. Gaspare gave it a false genealogy."

The bitter flavor in Campari is quinine, and the red color originally came from cochineal, though bottles now read "artificially colored." There's a recipe for a Negroni on the back of many bottles, but the Campari cocktail we prefer is the Jasmine, invented by our own alchemist at the command of one of his friends and customers.