Romano Levi

Location: Neive, Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy.

Romano Levi was founded in 1925 by Serafino Levi. Today the distillery is owned by Luigi Schiappapietra and Lucio Scaratti. The distillery still uses the direct-fire still installed in the 1920s. In addition to producing Grappa, the distillery acts as a living museum, teaching visitors about Grappa production at the turn of the 20th century.

Points of Differentiation

• 100% native varietals from the Langhe area
• The surrounding wineries bring pomace to the distillery immediately after pressing to ensure freshness
• The grappa is stored in several different types of barrels, giving different aromas to the final product

The History

For over three centuries, distillers called “grapat” emigrated temporarily from Fraciscio di Campodolcino or Vallespluga to Piedmont during the grape harvest, where, using mobile stills, they proceeded to the distillation of pomace for the production of Grappa.

In the early 20^th century, however, families began to set down roots in the area and opened permanent distilleries.  Among these families were Serafino Levi and Teresina Balbo along with their two children, Romano and Lidia.  The family settled in Neive in 1925 where the highest-quality pomace could be found, and they started a direct fire distillery.

Sadly, Serafino died young in 1933, leaving two small children and his wife, who continued to run the distillery. His wife also died early during an air raid in 1945.  Romano Levi was 17 years old at the time and a student at Alba. He decided to quit his studies and, with the help of his sister Lidia, continued distillation.

Today the distillery is owned by Luigi Schiappapietra, a close friend of the late Romano Levi, and Lucio Scaratti.  Fabrizio Sobrero acts as the Master Distiller while Elisa Scaratti oversees Sales & Events.

The Labels

The town of Neive has dedicated a museum to Romano Levi in the House of the Municipality. At the museum, visitors learn about the history of the distillery and read biographies on Romano and, his sister, Lidia Levi’s lives. The distillery has become part of the tourist program, and thousands of people visit it every year.

Romano unintentionally created a cult following for his grappas. Each label was hand painted and people were known to wait for hours for their label to be finished. The most famous of these labels featured “The Wild Woman.” Romano Levi remembers

“As a child I used to walk to school, crossing the hills and vineyards. Among the vineyard rows you would often find the ciabot, which were tiny equipped shelters where the wine-makers and farmers took refuge in case a storm surprised them in the evening or in the morning if they had to be in the vineyard before sunrise. I used to pass by there in the morning and I would sometimes see beautiful scruffy-looking women come out of these shelters; women who appeared to be a bit crazy, lonely and often living on the margins of society. They were mysterious, without constraints. They disappeared and then came back, they were both partly witches and partly fairies. They were free, as all women should be, to live the best part of their life.”

Romano’s grappas were a favorite among celebrities such as actor Marcello Mastroianni, economist Cesare Romiti, and singers Andrea Bocelli, Antonello Venditti, and Roby Facchinetti, as well as many more, but Romano was neither impressed or put off by his following. He was known for turning away celebrities from his door. Most likely this was not out of rudeness; he just didn’t know how “important” these visitors were.