End of July 2021: The Birth of an Idea

During a celebration, a group of friends gave me a bottle of GIN as a gift, calling it “il gin del moro” — a nickname based on my surname. I don’t know why, but that moment and that bottle sparked in me a sudden desire to create my own GIN: a high-quality product that would also have a strong connection to my city, and that could become a reference point for CRAFT GIN even beyond the local market.
At first, it felt more like a dream. But as time passed, it quickly turned into a conviction and a deep desire.

Autumn 2021: Project Development

One of the first things I had to deal with, well before even working on the gin itself, was registering the brand. Then came various administrative and tax-related formalities. Once I obtained the license for the sale of alcoholic beverages and completed the brand registration, I started building a website for the online sale of my GIN.

The project was beginning to take shape, and everything was ready to move forward.
For the Logo, I wanted to use a photograph I had taken many years earlier, in December 2017. It depicts one of the statues on Ponte Sant’Angelo, with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Remember this detail because it comes back at the end!

Another crucial step was finding a distillery in Rome, as I wanted to create a true zero-kilometre product: conceived, distilled, and bottled in my city.

After some research, I chose a distillery located in the north of Rome, in the Prima Porta area. Another important phase was now completed.

November 2021: The Botanicals of Roman Cuisine

The big, exciting moment had arrived: selecting the botanicals that I would use to create my GIN. I delved into the types and uses of botanicals found in traditional Roman cuisine, beginning a journey of research through books, online sources, and, most importantly, by visiting a historic and well-known herbal shop in Rome, near Piazza Venezia.

I still vividly remember my first meeting with the owner of the prestigious herbalist’s shop, Mrs. Teresa. It was a rainy autumn evening in November 2021, the store was filled with a thousand scents, ranging from the aged wood of the furniture to the fragrances of countless herbs and essences. I was truly captivated by what felt like a world steeped in ancient and almost magical knowledge.

I still vividly remember my first meeting with the owner of the prestigious herbalist’s shop, Mrs. Teresa. It was a rainy autumn evening in November 2021, the store was filled with a thousand scents, ranging from the aged wood of the furniture to the fragrances of countless herbs and essences. I was truly captivated by what felt like a world steeped in ancient and almost magical knowledge.

The conversation with Mrs. Teresa was a real cultural experience. With great expertise, she introduced me to the key botanicals used in Roman culinary tradition. I immediately found many connections to what I had been studying in the previous days, and she also helped me discover some other fascinating essences.

I left the shop enriched with new knowledge. From the initial selection of around 30 botanicals, each tied to the millennia-old traditions of Roman cuisine, I began to explore how they paired with one another. Eventually, I narrowed the list down to 15 botanicals.

It was almost time to start testing them at the distillery.

End of 2021: First Experiments at the Distillery

At the distillery, I presented my project and explained that I intended to create a London Dry Gin, without added sugars and with an alcohol content of 42%. I handed over the list of 15 botanicals, and we began the first distillations using various combinations.

For the very first test, based on my guidelines, I brought a sample of the gin to a friend of mine, a bartender with a very refined palate, for a tasting.

After getting over the emotion of the first sip, we had an open and honest discussion to share our impressions. Unfortunately, some of the botanicals turned out to be too bitter, so we began refining the list.

That first test marked the beginning of 14 different distillations and their respective tastings. It seemed almost impossible, or at least extremely difficult, to achieve the balance and sensory experience that I had set out to achieve.

Then one day, on a date I’ll never forget, I met up with my bartender friend at his bar, at 11:50 PM on April 20, 2022. Once his shift was over, around 12:15 AM, we tasted yet another test batch and… we looked at each other, pleasantly surprised. We were immediately struck by the smoothness and harmony of this sample, both on the nose and the palate.

We made a Gin & Tonic: excellent!

We made a Gin Fizz: also excellent!

It was April 21, 2022, Natale di Roma/Rome’s birthday, and on that very day, with the final recipe completed, Il Gin del Vicolo was officially born.

A meaningful date for the city of Rome, and also deeply personal: on April 21, 2005, I lost my grandfather.

October 17, 2022: The First Bottle Sold

It had been a long and captivating journey, full of discoveries.

The final recipe was now a reality. It was time for the last step: designing the bottle.

To set ourselves apart, we chose an unconventional shape, rhombus-like. and decided to silk-screen the statue from my photograph of Ponte Sant’Angelo onto each bottle. The first production run of 680 bottles was ready, and the very first bottle was sold on Monday, October 17, 2022, the day we officially launched the e-commerce website.

At the same time, we released our promotional video across social media (Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) and on that occasion, I decided to show the video to my mother.

The statue featured on the bottle appears several times in the video. My mother asked me who had sculpted it. I didn’t have an answer right away, so I did some research afterward. I discovered that the statue had been commissioned by Bernini. Since the Master could not carry out all the work himself, some of the sculptures were made by his trusted collaborators.

To my surprise, I found out that this particular statue was sculpted by Lazzaro Morelli, a name not widely known today. But what truly astonished me was this: the now-famous photo I had taken in December 2018, at a time when I had no idea I would one day create Il Gin del Vicolo, and that I would later coincidentally choose the same photo as the basis for the logo, featured a statue sculpted by an artist with the same surname as mine.

A sign of fate, perhaps? I don’t know. But there’s one question I can answer without hesitation:

From a gift came the idea. From the idea, the dream.
Today, that dream is a reality, and it’s called “Il Gin del Vicolo”.