Who invented the Bellini cocktail?

A word-association game using the term "Bellini" might well bring responses of "Harry's Bar" (the famous place where it was invented), "Ernest Hemingway", or "Orson Welles" (two of the well-known patrons of the bar). But neither Hemingway nor Welles was the creator of the Bellini.

The Bellini was invented between 1934 and 1948 by Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry's Bar in Venice and the founder of the high-class Venice hotel that still bears his family's name. Cipriani named the drink "the Bellini" because its unique pink colour reminded him of the toga of a saint in a painting by the 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini.

It is straightforward to make a Bellini at home. It consists of puréed white peaches and Prosecco, the popular Italian sparkling wine. Marinating fresh peaches in wine is an Italian tradition and the Bellini is a logical extension of this tradition. The original recipe was made with a little raspberry or cherry juice to give the cocktail a distinctive tint.