| Strega liqueur comes from Italy
Strega liqueur is a herbal liqueur created in 1860 in Italy by Strega Alberti. It is made from 70 herbs and spices from countries in Europe, Central America and the East, among which are Mint, Fennel, Ceylon Cinnamon, Florentine Flower of Liz, Jamaican Pepper, Gin of the Italian Apennines and Saffron. It is this last ingredient that gives it that characteristic yellow color.
Regarding its flavor, it is sweet, viscous and highlights mint and juniper. It tastes similar to Galliano, another Italian liqueur, but the yellow color is less intense. Being a herbal liqueur, it is customary to drink it after meals as a digestive.
| The liquor of witches and love
From the meaning of its name, we can already intuit that this liquor has an unusual origin, and that is that "strega" in Italian is the same as witch or bewitching in Spanish. Strega liqueur was born in the city of Benevento, in the Campania area, a place rich in stories of legends and witchcraft that have been told generation after generation.
One of the most famous legends tells that the city of Benevento was an ancient seat of witchcraft rites, as well as a meeting place for witches. It was said that witches and wizards from around the world gathered at night around a magical walnut tree, and that they had created a magical potion that bound couples who drank it together forever.
Since that day it is said that if a person gives their partner a glass of Liquore Strega to drink, a love spell is created that unites them forever.
| Strega and the cinema
Liquore Strega is one of the best-known drinks in Italy. This liquor appears in numerous films, novels and musicals such as The Two Women (1960) , in Vittorio De Sica's Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) , in Luchino Visconti's Obsession (1943) , in Bread and Tulips (2000) by Soldini or in Two cheaters in New York (2001) directed by Jon Favreau and starring Favreau and Vince Vaughn.
| Strega and literature
The relationship of the Strega liqueur with literature is such that the founder of the Strega company was also one of the creators in 1947 of the Strega literary prize, the most prestigious literary prize in Italy that already has more than 75 editions.
Strega liquor is mentioned in the novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo and in the novel Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway, the first of his novels published in New York in 1926 and where the American author touches on the themes of love, virility and the relationship between the man and the nature.