presents

The clock of success

• Written by Francesco Muzzopappa
• Illustrated by Massimiliano Aurelio

TThis story brings together several stories.

The first story is about an idea that became international, a small discovery which became huge, spreading until it touched the borders of the world.

But it’s also the story of a family, and that’s where we begin.

Let’s take a clock and turn it back approximately 260 years. Here, in Pecetto, a small village on the Turinese hills, we’ll find Carlo Stefano and Giovanni Giacomo Cinzano.

Italy is brimming with places like this, where the country air lazily rests on the shoulders of the villagers, and the rays and swirls of light outline the horizon, defining the limits of the possible, but also dreams. In this story, the two brothers chose the dream: from humble wine makers they wanted to become great distillers.

And they actually made it, first joining the Master Distillers and Confectioners’ Guild, and then opening the first store under their own name: this is how Casa Cinzano was born.

Picture the scene: a rare assortment of botanicals in old-fashioned glass bowls and jars, next to elegantly streamlined bottles filled with their handcrafted distillates and liquors. In the search to create the best possible vermouth, Carlo Stefano and Giovanni Giacomo experimented with an endless variety of roots and officinal herbs to obtain a most authentic and unique formula.

In Turin, their cleverness thrived. Back at the time, it was a city that stretched only 1,200 meters from Porta Nuova to Porta Palazzo, and just 2,000 meters from Porta di Po to Porta Susina.

As time went by, the success of Cinzano got bigger and bigger, becoming a dynasty which modernized its production techniques, expanding their warehouse and digging long tunnels deep into the earth to fill them with bottles of their fine products, from vermouth to sparkling wine.

Pioneers of the formula, their vermouth started to conquer its own territory amongst Italian aperitif drinks.

In addition to the herbs and the spices in the recipe, it takes artistry, inventiveness, and precision.

This is also the story of a journey.

This time, turn the hands of the clock back 150 years. We meet Giuseppe Lampiano, a traveling salesman.

He’s punctual as well as curious. He likes traveling, and when he relates a tale, he includes every single detail.

His logbook, full of pictures, drawings and notes, mirrors a fervid mind that loves relationships but, at the same time, is focused on the intimate and personal charm that such a long and fascinating route inevitably projects into the eyes of the traveler.

And a wider and higher dimension of the brand, the international projection of Cinzano, remained in those eyes like a silhouette against the light, to demonstrate that only the most authentic spirits reach the greatest goals.

Like a line of shells hatching in slow motion, the pearls of this work stretch over two and a half centuries, from the Cinzano brothers and our traveler to today, and they still glitter in time. From Spain to Argentina, the markets considered vital for the Cinzano consumption, launching a fruitful dialogue that included the rest of the world.

But this is also a story of modernity.

Step into a bar and ask for a Cinzano and soda. In that simple, yet elegant cocktail, you’ll feel all the flavor of Cinzano’s story, of experimentation that has never ceased, and a type of taste that has remained unchanged over the years.