Zucca (apéritif)

Zucca is Italian for pumpkin.

Zucca is a commercial Italian aperitif. Although its name is Zucca, the Italian word for squash, and is featured at Zucca's Bar located in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milano, its base ingredient is Rhubarb, hence its name Rabarbaro Zucca. It is also combined with zest, cardamom seeds and other curative herbs. After 10 days of rest, the drink is filtered and bottled. The liqueur has a delicate and pleasant bittersweet taste and is often mixed with soda water and ice. Zucca is closely related to other traditional Italian aperitifs, such as Campari, Strega, and Cynar, as its relatively light, with a 16% volume in alcohol.

While it is nearly impossible to find commercially in North America, it enjoys a certain amount of prominence as a featured drink at the Zucca bar in Galleria at the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy. The bar is also the site where Gaspare Campari first introduced his alcoholic infusion of herbs in the 1860s.

It is not currently distributed commercially in the United States.