Amarelli Palace — Giorgio Amarelli Licorice Museum
The Amarelli Palace and the Giorgio Amarelli Licorice Museum form one of Italy’s most unusual and celebrated industrial heritage sites, located at Contrada Amarelli on the SS106 near Rossano (now part of Corigliano-Rossano) in the province of Cosenza, Calabria. The Amarelli family has cultivated and processed licorice root on this estate since at least 1731 — and possibly since the 17th century — making it one of the oldest continuously operating food businesses in Italy. The museum, winner of the Premio Guggenheim Impresa & Cultura award in 2003, tells the complete story of licorice production from ancient times to the present through original machinery, documents, and packaging collections.
At a glance
- Type
- Industrial heritage museum & historic family palace
- Period
- 17th–18th century origins; museum opened 2001
- Style
- Calabrian baronial residence with working factory complex
- Location
- Contrada Amarelli, Rossano (Corigliano-Rossano), Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
- Coordinates
- 39.6110° N, 16.6309° E
Overview
The Amarelli estate stands on the Ionian coastal plain north of Rossano, in a landscape where wild licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) grows abundantly in the sandy soils of the Calabrian coastline. The family has transformed this natural resource into a globally recognised product over three centuries, producing the distinctive Amarelli licorice pastilles — pure, unsweetened, intensely flavoured — that have been exported across Europe and beyond since the 18th century. The palace itself, a substantial baroque-vernacular baronial structure, houses the museum alongside the family’s still-active production facilities, creating a living monument to Calabrian artisanal industry.
History
The Amarelli family’s documented involvement in licorice cultivation dates to the early 18th century, though family tradition traces the enterprise to the 1600s. The company received official recognition from the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which granted it a patent of supply, and survived the upheavals of Italian unification, two world wars, and the economic marginalisation of postwar Calabria. The estate and palace have remained in continuous family ownership, an extraordinary feat of dynastic continuity in a region marked by emigration and economic decline. In 2001, the family opened the Giorgio Amarelli Licorice Museum in the palace, named after a distinguished 20th-century family member, winning the prestigious Guggenheim Impresa & Cultura prize two years later.
What you see
The museum occupies rooms of the historic palace and displays original machinery, antique packaging, period advertising, family documents, and historical photographs tracing three centuries of licorice production. Particularly striking are the collection of vintage tins and boxes that once contained Amarelli pastilles, representing a remarkable archive of Italian graphic design from the 19th and 20th centuries. The working factory alongside the palace processes licorice root using traditional methods; guided tours explain the extraction and purification of licorice juice. The surrounding estate landscape, with its rows of cultivated licorice plants, completes the immersive experience of this living industrial heritage site.
Cultural significance
The Amarelli Licorice Museum is widely regarded as one of Italy’s finest small specialist museums and a model of how family businesses can leverage their heritage for cultural tourism. Its Premio Guggenheim recognition in 2003 placed it among Italy’s most innovative cultural enterprises. As a document of Calabrian agricultural and artisanal history, the estate also represents the persistence of local food traditions in a region otherwise largely overlooked by cultural tourism — making it a key site for understanding the depth and variety of Italy’s material culture beyond the major art cities.
Practical information
- Address
- Strada Statale 106, Contrada Amarelli, 87067 Rossano (CS), Italy
- Access
- Guided tours by appointment; the museum and factory shop are open to visitors — check the official Amarelli website for current schedules
- Admission
- Free entry to the museum; check official website for current details
Getting there
The Amarelli estate is located on the SS106 (Jonica) coastal highway, approximately 3 km north of Rossano Scalo railway station. By train, take the Taranto–Reggio Calabria Ionica line and alight at Rossano; the estate is reachable by taxi or local bus. By car, take the A3 Salerno–Reggio Calabria motorway and exit at Sibari, then follow the SS106 south towards Corigliano-Rossano; the Amarelli estate is clearly signposted on the right. A factory shop selling the full range of Amarelli products is open alongside the museum.