Local Food but not only Food 🙂
What will the typewriter, cash register, and small bottles in the picture above have in common?
Today they are part of a small and very valuable historical display along with some beautiful original labels, but long ago they were some of the tools of the trade for one of the longest-running family businesses that can be boasted in Sardinia: the Murgia Liquor Factory.
I had the pleasure of hearing its story directly from those who today carry on the tradition and have resumed the production of this delicious bright yellow liqueur, which as of today is among the 214 local PAT, or Traditional Food Products recognized by law.
The story of the Murgia Liquor Factory is compelling and exciting, studded with ups and downs, difficulties but also a lot of courage and will to succeed on the part of all the family members who have each contributed in their own time to make it unique, starting with its founder.
It was Gennaro Murgia (photo alongside from the web) in 1882 who started the distillation of what is still known today as Villacidro Murgia along with later other liqueurs. Born in 1861 in Serramanna to Luigi Murgia, a cattle trader, and Antonia Podda, Gennaro, after high school enrolled at the University of Cagliari, graduating in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and obtaining the title of physicochemical expert.
He later married Anna Correlli and opened a pharmacy in Muravera, but not making much money, he moved with his wife to Villacidro, where he bought two pharmacies and opened a laboratory for chemical-mineral analysis, which at the time was in quite high demand by plants in the vicinity.
In 1880 because of phylloxera (an insect that arrived from the American continent in those years) many vineyards were being destroyed, and although Sardinia with its isolation was not suffering great damage, Gennaro sensed the bargain in the great demand for alcoholic wine distillates. So he decided to set up in the building near Rio Fluminera a continuous steam distillery and vats for storing wine from all over the island. In another warehouse, the distillate was deposited in huge oak barrels to age and produce some brandy of great value. Such was the quality that it won Honorable Mention in 1900 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
The distillery meanwhile continues to work at full capacity and export throughout Italy, increasingly establishing the name of its products, from aqua vitae to all the liqueurs created precisely because of Gennaro’s herbalist knowledge: yellow and white Villacidro, Sardinian Amaro, Alkermes, Curacao, Mint, and many others.
The company in the years immediately preceding World War I also began producing marbled soap, even entering the supply network of the Royal Army. Gennaro learned its manufacturing secrets while working as a worker in the German company that had a monopoly on it.
In the meantime, World War I breaks out and Gennaro’s son, Erminio, unfortunately leaves for the front and does not return home. To avoid losing his other son Francis as well, Papa Gennaro became ingenious and converted the saponification plants by converting them to the manufacture of nitroglycerin, useful for many explosives then in use by the military. In doing so, the industry became of military interest and Francesco was called to run it as an industrial expert, also assisted by his brother Peppino.
Francis is safe, the war ends, the plants resume producing soap and spirits, and he continues to run the family business.
Gennaro, on the other hand, now elderly, devoted himself to work at the Sardinian Electric Company until he was unfortunately struck down by an illness that would lead to his death in 1935. Shortly thereafter Francis followed him at only 47 years of age.
The company without its founder goes through very hard years to which a second world war is added, and this time the Murgia factories are forced to close. It will be Francesco’s widow, Teresita Boringardi, who will want to attempt the feat of getting the business back on its feet. Faithfully following the ancient recipes, armed with a 20-liter capacity pot, she began experimenting with her first decoctions. Villacidro Murgia and other liquors returned to the market bottled by hand directly by Teresita and her helpers. In 1980, production passed to her son, Gennaro, and proceeded apace until 1998 when upon Teresita’s death, Gennaro fell ill and also passed away.
In the same year then the management passed to Francis, an agricultural graduate, until 2011, when after a lull the liquor factory closed once again.
Only after a few years, the next generation, with Alessandro and Francesca, decided to breathe new life into the company, and in March 2016 the much-loved Villacidro Murgia returned to the market. Working hard with a lot of passion while remaining faithful to the old family recipes, the young owners revamp the graphics and give a more modern approach to the promotion, proving that the Murgia liquor factory by going with the times always remains successful.
If at one time Murgia liqueurs in particular Villacidro (in the two versions white and yellow) were drunk pure today they are also experimented with and used in cocktails, often invented by the current owners themselves. This is the fifth generation of the family business that is still located near the village’s old wash house.
The recipe for the semisweet Murgia liqueur rightly remains a secret, what we do know is that the Villacidro Murgia used by our grandmothers for traditional desserts still consists of a magical mixture of approx. 25 herbs of which one component is certainly saffron in the golden version, and the other is aniseed, which gives its unmistakable aroma.
Even today, after 139 years, it is still paired with desserts as a drink, considered an excellent digestive served at room temperature, but also used as an ingredient, especially for anicini.
I for one added it to the dough of Fried Facts yesterday!😊
And do you use it? Have you felt like tasting it?
Melania
For more information here are the official references:
https://www.villacidromurgia.com/
https://www.instagram.com/murgialiquori/?hl=en
Source: The Sardinian Messenger, June 13, 2006 – Sardinia Region
Photo: M. Garau and from the web
