Amara
The Estate
Behind its comforting bitterness, every amaro is an entire story on its own. From the vast orange groves at the foot of Mount Etna, Amara is a 100% pure Sicilian story.
Mount Etna is more than a 3000+ m active volcano that overlooks the eastern side of Sicily. People here have a special connection to Etna, thinking of it (or better, her? ) as a benevolent mother, watching over the island. Etna is a UNESCO World Heritage site, not only noted for its massive size and activity, but for the vast diversity of ecosystems and landscapes. Orange groves as well as plots of olive trees, terraced hills of vines, almonds and pistachio farms, apiaries and more than a hundred kinds of wild herbs exploit the peculiar composition of the soil, inspiring fervent culinary followings. It’s mixture of mineral-rich decomposed lava, along with lots of limestone: extremely fertile and uniquely mineral. Citrus groves have a unique microclimate provided by the brooding volcano of Mount Etna: warm days and cool nights.
This area, called Piana di Catania (the Plain of Catania), is without a doubt the perfect playground for Amara. Edoardo and its family have cultivated “Red Orange of Sicily IGP” in their orange groves “Contrada San Martino” for generations. They take great care of every single plant, following only sustainable agricultural practices.
The Amaro
From the best peel of “Red Orange of Sicily PGI” from herbs and water from the sources of Etna blended in a completely handmade, according to a unique and secret recipe. After harvesting, the oranges are selected one by one and washed. They collect the pulp with which we make their Centottanta jam, while the peels are put in alcohol.
Strictly without adding chemicals, following the traditional production methods, Amara hand-picks oranges, peels them one by one with the typical spiral cut, turning slowly around the fruit. The selected orange peels are left to macerate inside dedicated silos with alcohol. Notably, they change the orange peels seven times to extract the best flavour and making sure they can obtain the characteristic orange colour without any additives. In another silo, an infusion of wild herbs from Mount Etna is prepared and left to macerate. Later united and sweetened in a third silos, adding pure water from the Etna spring, they will give life to an artisanal amaro that is able to express the flavour of a place as well as glimpse of its warm traditions.