Harry's Bar opened in 1931, all because of an act of generosity on the part of a young barman at the Hotel Europa, Giuseppe Cipriani, who helped out an American customer, Harry Pickering, when he was out of money. A grateful Pickering returned the favor by investing in a bar that would become Giuseppe's realm, but went by the name of its backer: Harry. Ever since it opened for business, Harry's Bar has seen it all, from being forced to close under the Fascist regime, to being proclaimed a national treasure in 2001. Eighty years of Venetian history, and a parade of writers, painters, directors, film stars, kings, queens and epicures through its premises, as Harry's Bar turned into a legend.