‘… I went to this bar on the Arno in Florence. Every year, I would sit there and order a Fernet Branc’.’ This quote from the ending of “Batman the Dark Knight” (2012) is enough to show how Fernet Branca is the most popular Italian bitters in the world!
A Made in Italy outstanding product, almost two centuries old (175 years), that in Argentina, mixed with Coca-Cola in a cocktail called Fernandino, is the third most drunk alcohol after beer and wine!
A secret recipe, a medication, an international success story
This success story began with Bernardino Branca, a self-taught pharmacist born in 1802 in Pallanza (VB), Piedmont. After moving to Milan, he opened a grocery store in Porta Nuova and, in 1845, created a unique mix of 27 herbs, roots and spices from the four continents. These included chamomile (from Italy and Argentina), saffron from Iran, galanga (from India and Sri Lanka), turmeric (from the Himalayas) and rhubarb from China. Bernardino called his bitter Fernet (keeping the recipe and origin of the name a secret) and chose ‘Novare serbando’ as his motto.
Initially, Fernet was marketed as a medication and, in particular, used as a remedy against cholera. But the bitter was also a great success among healthy people. After the unification of Italy, Bernardino Branca started Fernet’s industrial production in the modern Milan plant to meet the growing demand. In partnership with his brother Stefano, he founded Fratelli Branca Distillerie (1862). 1905 saw the birth of the famous image of the Fernet-Branca label: an eagle with spread wings flying over the world holding a bottle of bitter in its talons with the legendary slogan ‘Above all Fernet Branca’. In 1908, the current plant was built.
International… with a hint of mint
Thanks to its widespread sales network, Italian emigration and prestigious awards at international expos, Fernet-Branca quickly spread to Europe, the U.S. and Argentina. From the beginning, the company manifested an international calling and grew through a string of acquisitions, including the Punt e mes brands, Candolini grappa, and Borghetti coffee. Before singing the famous soprano Maria Callas used to drink a small glass of Fernet to which she added a few mint leaves: in 1965, this became Brancamenta.
Branca Museum
Today, a museum is also dedicated to the history of this iconic Made in Italy product in the company headquarters, in via Resegone in Milan. It is undoubtedly a company museum but also, above all, a testimony to the history of innovative communication, in form and technique, the expression of an era from the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century.
A success that continues over time
Today, Fernet-Branca is one of the 12 prestigious brands of the Branca International Spa Group, headquartered in Milan; the CEO and President is Niccolò Branca (the only one who knows the Fernet recipe, appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro in 2011 by Giorgio Napolitano). The holding has hundreds of employees, companies in Italy and Argentina, a turnover of hundreds of millions of euros, and 60 million bottles sold in over a hundred countries.
Congratulations to those who bring Italian excellence, history and amaro to the world.
Discover other outstanding companies in Lombardy.