“Tradition is not about storing ashes but about keeping a flame alive.”
Jean Jaurès
A pearl of our hills is the Luxardo distillery, a historic family-run business few minutes away from the AbanoRitz.
It was 1821 when Girolamo Luxardo founded the factory of the same name in Zara, on the Dalmatian coast, for the production of Maraschino. Dalmatia for over seven centuries was part of the Serenissima Republic of Venice and with the fall of the latter, and the creation of the new Regno d’Italia, the Luxardo family decided to move there.
Maria Canevari, wife of Girolamo Luxardo, is dedicated to the production of liqueurs at home and among these particularly the Rosolio Maraschino already known in the Middle Ages. Their entourage likes it so much that the husband uses the recipe for the launch of the family factory.
Under the Austro-Hungarian empire, the company grew by obtaining exclusivity privileges and building a new factory on the Zadar seafront. The palace is still present in all its majesty. With the end of the First World War, Zara was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, but with the Second World War various restrictions came into play in addition to the partial bombing of the company.
After almost a century, it seems that Luxardo’s activity is destined to end, between exiles, escapes, killings and, last but not least, the death of Pietro Luxardo, his brother Nicolò and his wife.
It is at this point that the new chapter in the Luxardo story begins, when the only surviving brother, Giorgio, restarts the business in 1947 by building the Torreglia plant with the young Nicolò III, of the fifth Luxardo generation.
The generations continue to follow one another up to the present day.
The traditional copper stills, the aging vats, the cherry orchards, the warehouses and the brand new bottling lines are all investments that later became pillars that still distinguish the company today.
Today, the seventh generation has finally opened a museum in the same production plant in Torreglia. Two centuries of industrial and personal history told in 600 square meters between tradition and innovation in a journey that encompasses the uniqueness of these products and of a leading company in the production of liqueurs, one of the oldest in the world.
The visit to the Luxardo Museum is free and possible by reservation from Wednesday to Saturday in four shifts: at 9:30 a.m., at 11:00 a.m., at 3:30 p.m. and at 5:00 p.m..
