Liquorice heritage museum · 17th century to present · Rossano, Calabria

Museo della Liquirizia “Giorgio Amarelli”

The Museo della Liquirizia “Giorgio Amarelli” in Rossano, Calabria, is dedicated to the history of liquorice cultivation and production in southern Italy, housed within the Amarelli family estate that has manufactured liquorice continuously since at least 1731. One of the oldest family businesses in Italy still operating in its original form, the Amarelli concern and its museum together preserve four centuries of agro-industrial heritage in a region where the cultivation of Glycyrrhiza glabra has shaped landscape, economy, and culture alike.

At a glance

Type: Agro-industrial heritage museum
Period: Production documented from 1731; museum established 20th century
Style: Historic factory and estate complex
Location: Rossano (Corigliano-Rossano), Province of Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Coordinates: 39.6111° N, 16.6332° E

Overview

The Amarelli family has extracted and processed liquorice root on the Ionian coast of Calabria since the early 18th century, making their estate one of Italy’s longest-running family enterprises. The museum, created within the historic factory complex, documents this extraordinary continuity through machinery, archival records, packaging, and personal objects spanning nearly three centuries. It received the Guggenheim Impresa e Cultura prize in 2001 in recognition of its value as an industrial heritage site.

History

Glycyrrhiza glabra grows wild along the Ionian coastal plain of Calabria, and local communities have harvested its roots since antiquity. The Amarelli family formalised production in the 18th century, developing extraction techniques that produced pure liquorice paste exported across Europe. The estate survived through periods of economic disruption, including both World Wars, by adapting its product range — from medicinal tablets to the iconic cylindrical tins of liquorice pastilles still sold today. The museum was created to open this industrial memory to the public while production continues in adjacent buildings.

What you see

Visitors move through rooms displaying antique extraction presses, copper boiling vessels, and drying equipment that chronicle the evolution of liquorice processing from hand-powered to mechanical methods. Hundreds of historic tins, labels, advertising posters, and correspondence with international buyers illustrate the global reach of Calabrian liquorice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Personal archives of the Amarelli family — portraits, ledgers, domestic furnishings — contextualise the enterprise within the social history of a southern Italian landowning dynasty.

Cultural significance

The Amarelli estate represents a rare case of unbroken agro-industrial continuity in the Italian Mezzogiorno, a region whose manufacturing heritage is often under-documented. Its museum demonstrates that southern Italy possessed sophisticated processing industries long before the 20th century, challenging persistent narratives of the region as purely agricultural. The Guggenheim prize recognition confirmed its status as a model for heritage-based enterprise.

Practical information

Address: Contrada Amarelli, Rossano (Corigliano-Rossano), CS, Calabria, Italy
Hours: Check official website for current opening hours; the museum shop is generally open during business hours
Admission: Admission is free; check official website to confirm

Getting there

The estate is located on the SS106 Ionian coastal road north of Rossano. By car from the A2 motorway, exit at Sibari and follow the SS106 south towards Rossano for approximately 10 km; the Amarelli estate is signposted. The nearest train station is Rossano on the Taranto–Reggio Calabria coastal line; the estate is reachable by taxi or local bus from the station.

Sources & resources

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A history inside the history that finds its real and metaphorical origins in the wonderful Region of Calabria. A very interesting story, the&nbsp;Amarelli&#39;s one, that started at the beginning of the XI century and continued during the centuries among crusades, literary commitment and agriculture in their large landed estates.&nbsp;The galleries of the museum, through the exhibition of engravings, documents, old photographs but also agricultural equipment, daily objects and antique clothing witness the life of a family, strictly linked to the roots of the plants that grow wild on the Ionian coast, becoming nowadays the stage for a unique museum in the world. The great space of &quot;Concio&quot; dates back to 1731 and conveys the idea of passing of time.



During the guided tour you can discover the secrets of the production process, the roots bales ready to be processed, modern facilities for the extraction, the old cookers which thicken the black liquorice paste and the bronze wire drawing machines, to create the different liquorice shapes. The production is still carried out through a natural process constantly immersed in the sweet liquorice scent that, in the same way of the museum fascinates everyone, adults and children. The chimney, a well-lighted structure marked with the initials of&nbsp;Baron Nicola Amarelli, impressively towers from the &quot;Concio&quot;&#39;s roof: it is the background of the panoramic terrace where you can admire the &quot;Museo Open Air&quot;, containing a really unique exhibit of ancient industrial instruments. An unknown adventure experienced by visitors who got carried by the reality of a prosperous past and an excellent current product, which can be enjoyed at the end of tour in the Liquorice Shop and Museum Caf&eacute;. The liquorice takes on different tastes and shapes, from the natural stick of root to the pure black liquorice, from flavoured liquorice with mint and anise, to the sugarcoated one and the gummy with anise, orange, lemon and violet.



Finally the&nbsp;Auditorium &quot;Alessandro Amarelli&quot;&nbsp;big space with with more than a hundred seats , has always been an integral part of the eighteenth-century factory is now the beating heart of the cultural life and the events of the Museum. There are guided tours in different languages and an unforgettable experience awaits you at the Liquorice Museum &quot;Giorgio Amarelli&quot;.


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Museo della Liquirizia â€œGiorgio Amarelliâ€