We are approaching the night of St. John’s Day, which falls between
June 23 and 24, the magical night to begin the preparation of Nocino.

According to ancient Italic tradition, nocino should be prepared by an experienced woman. She should climb barefoot on the walnut tree during the night of St. John’s Day and pick the precious fruits with her bare hands, without using sorte tools that could spoil the fruits and disperse their precious properties. The liquor made from the hulls of walnuts (strictly odd) was able, according to local beliefs, to bring health, well-being and wealth.

Not to mention the magical properties of nocino, in fact, it is said that as early as the 6th century AD, the day when unripe walnuts were harvested “the witches, at the head of whom was Diana, swarmed by the thousands into the skies on their way to the great sabbath held under the walnut tree of Benevento.”

Thus, the walnut was a tree related to the female world and to witches in particular. And thanks to the “witch tree,” it was possible to prepare a “magical” mixture made of unripe walnuts, prepared by women and known to ward off the evils that afflicted the rural populations of times past.

The unripe walnut husks macerated in spirit (alcohol) produced an alcoholic extract with numerous medicinal properties: it was digestive, anti-parasitic, eradicated fungi, bacteria and viruses, and killed intestinal worms (including tapeworm); and it is easy to understand how until the Middle Ages that drink, rich in tannins and with virtues so valuable for health could be considered as a “miraculous” mixture worthy of crossing the centuries through the transmission of family recipes from generation to generation.

Perpetuating legends and traditions, we offer you some of our Nocini, always special and even a bit magical !

Noos Nocino – Manifattura Branchi

Nocino Nostrano Ticinese – Fratelli Corti

Nocino Ticinese – NOCÌ – Gialdi Wines

Nocino Ratafià del Ticino – Tamborini Wines