Amaro Lucano was born in 1894 in Pisticci, a small town in Basilicata, when pastry chef Pasquale Vena began experimenting by blending more than thirty herbs in the back of his cookie factory to create a wonderfully balanced herbal liqueur. Its recipe, full of citrus, floral, and bitter notes, was initially appreciated locally, but the turning point came in 1900 when the House of Savoy officially adopted Amaro Lucano, earning it national recognition.

After enduring a production hiatus during World War II, Pasquale’s sons, Leonardo and Giuseppe, transformed their father’s artisanal endeavor into a modern factory in the 1950s and 1960s and, by 1965, production had surged to over 117,000 liters annually.