Branding Sicilian Style: Amaro Averna
I have to admit my favorite amaro in Italy is Amaro Florio, a bitter liquor made of a blend of 13 different ingredients among which herbs, roots, citrus fruit peels and spices. You usually drink it after a meal. Amaro Averna comes right after in my favorites…
Joe Ray, a journalist specialized in in food and travel pieces, along with restaurant reviews, has recently visited Sicily and published an interesting article on Amaro Averna and Francesco Averna. It is fascinating how business is lived and seen by a Sicilian. Read an extract below:
Asked about Sicilian preferences for their favorite amaro and Randazzo doesn’t hesitate: the relatively sweet-flavored Averna brand.
Following his lead, I head to the center of Sicily for the tour of the Averna plant in Caltanissetta. Francesco Averna, who runs the plant with his brother, walks from the offices to the bottling plant, pointing out everything from how they’ve modernized the bottling section in the hundred years they have been in business, to photos from a visit by Pope John Paul II, then wrapping things up quickly at their giant, stainless steel storage vats. […] “Averna (a brand that has been around since 1868) represented Sicilian industry; it was a sign of a growing economy,” she adds. “When a man drank this, it was—and still is—a link to that tradition.”
Tradition or not, counting on this sounds like a lack of change that, from the outside, seems like Francesco Averna is sticking his head in the sand. Mention hip beverages like energy drinks or Jägermeister (actually an amaro, and a competitor here) and it’s clear that he doesn’t wish to be lumped into any semi-trendy set. Luckily, the brand’s numbers (and a little collection of spiffy cars in the parking lot) seem to say it’s doing a good job for a medium-sized company: Averna sells eight million bottles of its amaro per year—a million in Sicily, four million more in the rest of Italy, and another three million around the world.
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July 4th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Haha, thanks for that! Averna is real tradition here in Sicily. When it happens that the whole family is together for dinner, there’s always a glass of Averna afterwards. I hope we won’t loose this tradition with the “new” generation (that would be me), ’cause it’s really part of the Sicilian way of life. I never thought of it like that!
July 5th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
MaFra:
you really make me miss Sicily! I miss sipping my glass of Averna or other liquors after meals… I did not use to do it regularly, but I really miss it now that I cannot anymore