We present an analysis of high dispersion spectra ( R \sim 40 , 000 ) of three red clump stars in the old open cluster NGC 6819 .
The spectra were obtained with SARG , the high dispersion spectrograph of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo .
The spectra were analyzed using both equivalent widths measured with an automatic procedure , and comparisons with synthetic spectra .
NGC 6819 is found to be slightly metal-rich ( [ Fe/H ] = +0.09 \pm 0.03 , internal error ) ; there are no previous high resolution studies to compare with .
Most element-to-element abundance ratios are close to solar ; we find a slight excess of Si , and a significant Na overabundance .
Our spectra can also be used to derive the interstellar reddening towards the cluster , by comparing the observed colours with those expected from line excitation : we derive E ( B - V ) = 0.14 \pm 0.04 , in agreement with the most recent estimate for this cluster .