From Luca · 2021 · Pairing

Limonata

Name: Limonata
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 cup fresh lemon juice (Amalfi or Meyer lemons if you can get them); 1/2 cup sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water to a simple syrup; 3 cups cold water, or sparkling water for a frizzante version; Ice and a few lemon slices

What to drink

Portorosso runs on sun, salt, and citrus, so the natural drink alongside all that pesto and gelato is a cold Italian limonata — Amalfi-style lemons, a little less sweet and a little more tart than American lemonade. It's the taste of a Ligurian summer afternoon, and the perfect thing to sip while you pretend a Vespa is parked outside.

Ingredients

1 cup fresh lemon juice (Amalfi or Meyer lemons if you can get them)
1/2 cup sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water to a simple syrup
3 cups cold water, or sparkling water for a frizzante version
Ice and a few lemon slices

Method

Stir the lemon juice into the simple syrup, tasting — Italian limonata is bracingly tart, so keep it on the sharp side.
Top with cold still or sparkling water.
Serve over lots of ice with lemon slices, in the shade, ideally by the sea.