From Alfred's Florence café in The Dark Knight Rises to a Booker-longlisted novel, here is where amaro actually shows up in film and literature, and which claims hold up.
October 18, 2026 · 6 min read · Robert Cross
Amaro is not the drink movies usually reach for when they want to show sophistication. A martini can be shaken on camera; a Negroni can glow red under bar lighting. Amaro, by contrast, is dark in the glass and often medicinal on the palate. Its traditional role is after dinner, not as the centerpiece of a social scene.
When it does appear in film or literature, the choice is rarely casual. It tends to mark ritual, displacement, or a character who has already moved past easy sweetness. The clearest through-line is Fernet-Branca, the Milanese amaro whose sharp herbal intensity has made it both a bartender's handshake and a surprisingly durable prop across decades of movies and one notable novel.
The most solidly documented on-screen reference is in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Alfred Pennyworth, played by Michael Caine, describes a private ritual: “I went to Florence, there's this cafe, on the banks of the Arno. Every fine evening, I'd sit there and order a Fernet Branca.”
The line is widely quoted and independently attested. In the film it works as quiet longing: an old man's European habit while he waits for a version of Bruce Wayne that may no longer exist. If the scene made you curious, start with our guide to why Fernet tastes the way it does.
“Every fine evening, I'd sit there and order a Fernet Branca.” — Alfred, The Dark Knight Rises
Other appearances are mainly attested by Fratelli Branca itself. According to the company, Bill Murray's character orders Fernet-Branca at the hotel bar in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga toast with it in A Star Is Born (2018).
The brand also points to a cluster of Italian films from the 1970s: a visible poster in Fernando Di Leo's Milano calibro 9 (1972), background presence in Mario Monicelli's Romanzo Popolare (1974), and an order by the character Perozzi in Amici miei (1975).
These claims circulate in company materials and in coverage that draws from them. Independent scene-by-scene confirmation is limited, and brands have an incentive to highlight screen time. The Dark Knight Rises dialogue remains the strongest documented case.
Pablo Larraín's Maria (2024) draws on a long-circulating anecdote that Maria Callas took a small glass of Fernet-Branca, sometimes with mint, as part of her vocal warm-up. Even the company treats this as legend; it is also the origin story sometimes linked to the later introduction of Branca Menta.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2024, had a limited U.S. theatrical run in late November, and arrived on Netflix that December.
Product placement has put other amari into Italian films, usually as commercial integration rather than character-driven moments. Distilleria Caffo arranged placements for Vecchio Amaro del Capo in La Cena di Natale (2016) and Gli uomini d'oro (2019).
These are explicit brand deals rather than organic appearances, but they show how Italian producers treat cinema as an extension of the after-dinner table. Read our Vecchio Amaro del Capo review for what is actually in the glass.
James Hamilton-Paterson's Cooking with Fernet Branca (2004) is the clearest literary treatment of a true amaro. The novel follows Gerald Samper, an effete English ghostwriter of sporting biographies who has retreated to a Tuscan hilltop, and his new neighbor Marta, a composer from a fictional former Soviet republic.
Both characters drink the amaro in quantity, and Gerald works it into deliberately grotesque recipes, including garlic-and-Fernet ice cream. The book was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2004 and uses the bitter spirit as a satirical counterweight to the sunny clichés of expat Italian memoirs.
Nonfiction has done the broader archival work. Brad Thomas Parsons's Amaro (2016) and Matteo Zed's The Big Book of Amaro (2021) survey the category's history, botanicals and regional styles with the seriousness the subject deserves. They are guides rather than narratives in which the drink drives the plot.
For a shorter start, our history of amaro and types of amaro guides cover the same ground in a few minutes.
True amari are less cinematic than gin, whiskey or even Campari for practical reasons. Their color is dark, their flavor is polarizing, and their traditional role is after dinner rather than social lubricant.
When filmmakers or novelists reach for them, they are usually signaling depth, Italian specificity, or a character who has already moved past the easy aperitivo hour. Fernet-Branca, with its cult status among bartenders and its long commercial presence, simply has the longest track record.
Milano calibro 9 (1972, film): Fernet-Branca poster, per brand. Romanzo Popolare (1974, film): Fernet-Branca, per brand. Amici miei (1975, film): Fernet-Branca ordered by Perozzi, per brand.
Lost in Translation (2003, film): Fernet-Branca, per brand. Cooking with Fernet Branca (2004, novel): Fernet-Branca, central. The Dark Knight Rises (2012, film): Fernet-Branca in Alfred's dialogue.
La Cena di Natale (2016, film): Vecchio Amaro del Capo, product placement. Amaro by Brad Thomas Parsons (2016, nonfiction): survey of the category. A Star Is Born (2018, film): Fernet-Branca toast, per brand.
Gli uomini d'oro (2019, film): Vecchio Amaro del Capo, product placement. The Big Book of Amaro by Matteo Zed (2021, nonfiction): survey of the category. Maria (2024, film): the Callas and Fernet anecdote.
Fernet-Branca. Alfred describes sitting at a café on the banks of the Arno in Florence every fine evening and ordering one.
According to Fratelli Branca, Bill Murray's character orders it at the hotel bar. The claim comes mainly from the company, with limited independent confirmation.
James Hamilton-Paterson's 2004 comic novel follows an English ghostwriter in Tuscany who cooks grotesque dishes with Fernet-Branca. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
It is a popular legend that she took a small glass, sometimes with mint, before singing. Even the brand treats it as legend; the 2024 film Maria draws on it.
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