Maraschino
Encyclopedia
The liqueur's distinctive flavor comes from the Marasca cherries, and the crushed cherry pits lend an almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
-like flavor to Maraschino. Honey is also part of the ancient recipe.
The distillate matures for at least two years in ashwood vats, since this wood does not lend its colour to the liqueur, and is then diluted and sugared.
It is typically bottled in a straw-coated bottle.
History
The recipe for this liqueurLiqueur
A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...
was created by the apothecaries of the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
monastery at Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, at the beginning of the 16th century. It was known under the name of Rosolj (Rožolj, Rosolio), which came from the word "ros solis"— "the sun dew." In the 18th century this liqueur was named Maraschino, as it was produced from the essence of ripe fruits of the cherry marasca, as well as from the leaves of its sprigs. In the agrarian regions of Dalmatia Rosolj survived as the name of a traditional home made liqueur made from marasca cherries.
In the 18th century when the industrial production of this liqueur began, Maraschino set out from Zadar and "sailed" into ever more important European ports and major cities. Soon it was accepted and favoured by all European courts (Viennese, Berlin, the English court, the Bavarian, Italian, Belgium, and Danish courts) and later on Maraschino spread to America, Canada, Australia, South America and to South Africa.
Maraschino was also admired by one of the biggest conquerors of the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, who specially enjoyed it after dinner or supper. The French kings, Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
, Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
and Louis Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
as well as the Czar of Russia Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
admired Maraschino too. The British king George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
sent to Zadar a naval fleet to collect a hundred Maraschino cases for the Royal court at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and for the governors of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
and Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
. In 1871, on the request of the English queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, Maraschino was loaded on the English ships at Zadar port. In 1887, namely on September 26, on his way through Zadar, the Prince of Wales who later become the king George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, personally visited Zadar liqueur factory and on that occasion ordered a considerable quantity of this specialty.
The first industrial distillery was established in 1759 by Francesco Drioli (“Fabbrica di Maraschino Drioli di Zara”).
In 1821, Girolamo Luxardo, consul of the Kingdom of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
in Zara
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, opened a distillery there. After 8 years he obtained an exclusive "privilege" from the Emperor of Austria
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
as an acknowledgment of the superior quality of his liqueur. It became soon the largest and most famous distillery in Zadar.
Zadar was dramatically touched by the Second World War. After 52 aerial bombings, most of the city (with all the historic distilleries) was destroyed.
The most of the Luxardo family (including Pietro and Nicolò Luxardo) was victim of the retaliation of the Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's partisans against the italian community, soon forced to leave Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
in view of the passage of Zadar to Yugoslavia (1947).
Giorgio Luxardo, the only survivor of his family, built a new factory in Torreglia
Torreglia
Torreglia is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 45 km west of Venice and about 14 km southwest of Padua. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,978 and an area of 18.8 km²....
close to Padova, in Northern Italy. The Drioli's distillery reopened in Mira
Mira
Mira also known as Omicron Ceti , is a red giant star estimated 200-400 light years away in the constellation Cetus. Mira is a binary star, consisting of the red giant Mira A along with Mira B. Mira A is also an oscillating variable star and was the first non-supernova variable star discovered,...
, close to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, but it was closed in the 1970s. The Vlahov family sold their right to the Casoni's distillery close to Modena
Modena
Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy....
, that still produce the liqueur. In Zadar the Luxardo distillery was rebuilt and restarted production under the name Maraska, and is today the most famous Croatian Maraschino distillery.
Historical Maraschino brands in Zadar (before 1943)
- Maraschino Luxardo (1821)
- Distilleria Romano Vlahov
- Fabbrica Maraschino Drioli Salghetti (1759–1943)
- Fabbrica Maraschino Stampalia
- Distilleria Calligarich
- Distilleria Millicich
- Distilleria Magazzin
- Distilleria Stanich
Distilleries sites
History links
- History of Luxardo's distillery (1)
- History of Luxardo's distillery (2)
- History of Drioli distillery (in English and Spanish)
- History of Drioli's distillery in Zara (book in Italian)
- Photos: the destruction of distilleries in WWII