Elixir of Sacro Monte

A journey in time with secret notes and stories to be told.

TWO FLAVORS, TWO WORLDS,
ONE UNIQUE LIQUOR
TWO FLAVORS, TWO WORLDS,
ONE UNIQUE LIQUOR
Some mysteries make life more intense. When you encounter them, time slows down. They take time, like all good things, like in the olden days. Drop by drop, like the tale to be told when a Garibaldian herbalist returns home from Algeria. There are mysteries to contemplate, never entirely revealed. Like the Al Borducan Elixir, herbal distillate from the secret recipe of Sacro Monte di Varese.
A LIQUOR LEGACY OF THE
ITALIAN REUNIFICATION
There are places and stories that are hard to forget. Like how the Borducan Elixir herbal liquor is tied to the striking panorama at the culmination of the Sacro Monte di Varese string of Rosary Chapels. Its recipe, still today jealously kept secret, was created by Garibaldian Davide Bregonzio upon return from Algeria.
Just for the purpose of serving his Elixir, Davide opened his first establishment in 1872, in the village of Santa Maria del Monte.
Later on, in 1924 Anita, Davide's wife, built a Liberty style mansion that still today hosts the Caffè del Borducan. Through the generations, from Anita to Bruno Bregonzio, who perfected the recipe we know today.


DISCOVER THE STORY
A LIQUOR LEGACY OF THE
ITALIAN REUNIFICATION

ORANGE ELIXIR
SINCE 1872

ORANGE ELIXIR
SINCE 1872

Today the distillate is still produced artisanally based on Grandfather Davide’s recipe, in limited production. Exactly as his nineteenth-century handwriting says, where it all began, “soak the orange peels in pure alcohol for one year.” It’s a slow experience, like a ritual to observe. An experience drawing together past and present. A journey in time, with secret notes and stories to be told.