Book excerpt: For the weary traveler or isolated expat, there is nothing like finding that special bar or caf+¬ that can make you feel welcome when you are far from home. While the desperate characters of Casablanca had Rick's Place, we have our favorites as well: Willi's Wine Bar in Paris, Jo's Bar in Prague, the Caf+¬ Greco Antico in Rome, or Magaritsa in Sophia. Harry's Bar in Venice is such a spot--and one of the most famous at that. Just off the Palazzo San Marco, Harry's Bar has played host to such literary luminaries as Truman Capote and Ernest Hemingway, cinema heavyweights the likes of Orson Welles, and rich and powerful guests such as the Aga Khan. Harry's Bar is the biography of this institution. In this witty memoir, Arrigo Cipriani gives us the view from behind the bar, sharing anecdotes about the operation of the Venetian watering hole, disclosing secrets of mixacology, and passing on the old stories of his father, who cofounded Harry's in 1931.