‘Nazionale’ Calabrian Elisir Digestivo

‘Nazionale’ Calabrian Elisir Digestivo has its roots in the secular traditions of Calabria dating back to the Middle Ages, years in which bitter was used as a digestive remedy in monasteries. Today Rupes is projected to the future with a strong and refined taste, together with an unmistakable Mediterranean character. According to historical evidences, the name of the bitter derives from the place where it was distilled at the beginning of 1800, at the foot of Rupe di Rocella.

It is made using the old artisanal method of cold maceration of the thirty aromatic and medicinal herbs that make it up; among these are wild fennel, Calabrian liquorice and bay leaves.

An amber brown bitter with an unmistakable taste and an inebriating and relaxing scent. To be enjoyed on an armchair after a long day at work, in a low tumbler.

A as in Bitter, B as in Bergamot

Its scientific name is Citrus bergamia, it has a greenish color tending to yellow, a rounded shape and flattened at the poles, a citrus scent and taste with acidulous and bitterish notes that even just describing it makes your mouth water…. you understand who we are talking about?

The prince of citrus fruits, the Bergamot grows and fructifies along the Jasmine Coast, in the province of Reggio Calabria and is a fruit with many healthy properties. Bergamot has such ancient origins that the etymology of its name is still uncertain, many hypotheses associate it to Berga, ancient name of the city of Barcelona from which Christopher Columbus would have exported it by transplanting the fruit in the Canary Islands, others instead associate the product to Pergamon, ancient city of Troy, other hypotheses still associate the name of the fruit to a Turkish expression: Berg-a-mundi, which means “pear tree of the Lord”. The fact remains that Bergamot is a delicacy to be discovered and it belongs to the family of citrus fruits.

According to some historical sources, the first “bergamotteto” dates back to 1750 when Nicola Parisi, a grower from Reggio Calabria, introduced the plant in his cultivation for the first time.