When you say innovate to grow, you must tell the story of Amarelli Srl, a Made in Italy brand among the most long-lived and renowned in the world today. An outstanding company that has been producing a very pure PDO liquorice for 11 generations.
A plant with properties known since antiquity
The building block of this historic company is Glycyrrhiza – from the Greek sweet root – better known as liquorice. This plant was already known in ancient Egypt, Assyria and China, where it has been used in medicine since ancient times to treat coughs, liver disorders and food poisoning. In Europe, liquorice grows wild in Mediterranean regions, such as the Ionian coast of Calabria, particularly between Rossano and Corigliano, where it seems to have been brought by Benedictine monks around the year 1000.
The first ‘concio’ for Made in Italy processing
But it was not until 1731 that liquorice diffusion and transport became easier; in that year, in fact, the Amarelli family, already dealt with liquorice processing, built a proto-industrial plant known as a ‘concio’ for the extraction of juice from the roots of this beneficial plant.
Before then, the cumbersome liquorice roots had to be transported all over Europe to the places where they were cooked, an operation that was not always easy and did not always maximise the product’s qualities.
World-renowned quality
For generations, the Amarelli family has continued to process liquorice. Of the seventy liquorice companies active in Rossano, Amarelli has been the only one to survive international competition.
By maximising the use of the precious ‘black gold’ and producing a very pure PDO liquorice, Amarelli has succeeded in positioning itself on the shelves of Harrods, Galeries Lafayette, and Fortnum&Mason and has now conquered the Asian markets and Brazil.
Women’s entrepreneurship
The basis of such a long-lasting success is undoubtedly the continuous drive to innovate. This is also a distinctive feature of Pina Amarelli’s leadership. Pjna, born in 1945, has always been convinced that only by innovating does one grow!
The first woman in Calabria to represent a company in the 1980s and appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro by the Federazione Nazionale dei Cavalieri del Lavoro (National Federation of the Knights of Labour), Pina Amarelli created new products, including the iconic metal boxes with archive images.
She also came up with the idea for the Giorgio Amarelli Liquorice Museum, which opened in 2001, was awarded the Guggenheim and declared an Italian Cultural Heritage Site. Pina is also the only woman at the top of the prestigious association les Henokiens, which brings together family businesses.
‘When I think of everything I have done, it seems unreal,’ she said during an interview with Il Messaggero a few years ago. “Weirdly enough, what could have been disadvantages, such as being a woman and doing business in the South, turned out to be my strengths. I was the only woman, a voice out of the chorus. My presence caused astonishment at first and then admiration. They all felt displaced and paid me respect. “.
Her business vision has been embraced by her grandson, Fortunato Amarelli, the company’s current CEO, who has invested in the automation of the production cycle while still retaining the traditional figure of the Master Liquorice Maker.
Today, Amarelli, still headquartered in Rossano (CS), employs dozens of employees and sells worldwide, billing millions of Euros.
Congratulations to those who have brought Calabria and Made in Italy to the world for centuries!
Learn about other excellent products from southern Italy, between tradition and innovation.