One hundred years of history in a glass

by Gianni Colucci

One hundred years have already passed since that rainy night in which Alfonso Penna took refuge in the back-shop of a chemist to escape from a storm. That night Penna started to bustle about with spices and herbs and he obtained an infusion which seemed to be delicious to him. It had special effects on digestion. Penna patented this «discovery» and started to produce it in his small firm. In a short time the success of this liqueur spread from Sassano to Europe and in 1910 at international exhibitions it obtained many prices. Penna unexpectedly died in 1930. His son Arturo, as all the second generations, thought that his father’s business was profitable ad he opened an oven. He changed his mind and he dismissed 60 workers and decided to dedicate himself to the liqueur invented by his father. Since that time the firm has continued to grow, keeping its family character. «We started like in a tale – Tiziana Penna, one of the four grandchildren (three sisters and one brother) of the founder, says – and now we make my grandfather’s dream live again, even if we haven’t abandoned our professions». Penna’s invention had some problems with the Health Board which wanted to impose to sell it in pharmacy, compelling the heirs to eliminate the sentence «It helps digestion in an extraordinary way». This liqueur is celebrated with concerts, meetings and tasting sessions in the square and in the firm which is visited by school children also because it includes a fine museum. In Sassano ten employees produce ten thousand bottles of Amaro (only with twelve very secret herbs) and other liqueurs whose names are old like “anisette”, “china” elixir and rocket infusion.

from Il Mattino, november 2004