Luxardo History

 

The firm began in Zara in 1821, a port city on the Dalmatian coast (now a part of the Republic of Croatia). Dalmatia had been for more than seven centuries an integral part of the "Serenissima" Republic of Venice. On the fall of the Venetian republic in 1797, under Austrian rule Zara became the capital of the kingdom of Dalmatia. A citizen from Genoa, Girolamo Luxardo, was sent to Zara as consular representative of the kingdom of Sardinia; he moved there with his family in 1817.

His wife, the Marchesa Maria Canevari dedicated herself - as was custom in many families at the time - to making liqueurs in her home. She was especially interested in the production of a liqueur known in Dalmatia since medieval times, produced in many convents with the name of "Rosolio Maraschino". The liqueur produced by the marchesa was of such high quality that it claimed attention not only of family and friends but of serious connoisseurs.

 

Her husband, Girolamo, with good Ligurian instincts for profit-making, founded a distillery in 1821 to produce Maraschino. After 8 years of studies and perfecting the product , Girolamo obtained an exclusive "privilege" from the Emperor of Austria. It was a valuable and cherished acknowledgement of the superior quality of the Luxardo liqueur, and today the firm is still proud to bear the denomination "Privilegiata Fabbrica Maraschino Excelsior"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Girolamo Luxardo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1913 it became possible to build an extremely modern factory, one of the largest in the great Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even today one coming into the port of Zadar cannot help noticing the imposing structure on the waters' edge, which housed the offices and living apartments of the Luxardo family.

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At the end of the First World War Zara was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy, as was 85% of its population, and the Luxardo company soon became the most important distillery in the country.

The beginning of the Second World War in 1940 severely restricted the industrial activity. After indiscriminate and repeated Anglo-American bombings in 1943-44 the distillery was almost totally destroyed along with the city of Zara. After the withdraw of German troops from Dalmatia, there followed the occupation by Tito's communist partisans. The great majority of the surviving Italian population fled into exile in Italy and elsewhere (Australia, Canada, etc.) but many were killed, amongst whom Pietro Luxardo, and Nicoḷ II with his wife forcibly drowned by the partisans in the sea of Zara. It appeared then that after a century of activity, the Luxardo firm was destined to disappear.

 

Fabbrica di Maraschino Luxardo

      ruins after the bombing

 

The only brother of the fourth generation to survive was Giorgio Luxardo. He had the courage and tenacity to rebuild the distillery in the Veneto, their actual plant of Torreglia-Padova, together with the young Nicoḷ III of the fifth generation.

Today, the sixth generation of the family continues to produce Maraschino, the cherry liqueur which made their name known world-wide, as well as a full line of classic Italian liqueurs (Sambuca, Amaretto, Grappa, Limoncello, etc.).

 

                       

 

 

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