ACETAIA FERRETTI CORRADINI

Back in 1918, in keeping with a long-established family tradition, Luigi Ferretti’s father gave him a small barrel of balsamic vinegar dated 1890. Luigi’s first-born son Libero followed in his father’s footsteps, acquiring expert knowledge over the years and becoming an excellent wine-taster. Thanks to this expertise and to his passion for wine, he accepted an offer to move to the Puglia region, to San Pietro Vernotico (Lecce), to manage the Gallinari wine cellar, during the difficult years of the Second World War.

Towards the end of the war, in 1943, he returned to Reggio Emilia and moved into a new home near the station, where he brought the invaluable family barrels.
After his father Luigi died, Libero stepped into his father’s shoes in the world of wine, as well as expanding the vinegar business with barrels from the families of friends, who were pleased to place them in safe, reliable hands since they were no longer able to take care of them. The experience Libero gained over the years earned him the role of trusted consultant to many owners of the prized vinegar. In just a few years, he became the key figure everyone in the field turned to in the town and the province, and together with his friends Ottavio Iori and Ferdinando Cavalli, was one of the names behind the establishment of the Consortium for the Protection of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Reggio Emilia.

As a member of the newly established “Confraternita dell’Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale”, Libero soon became one of the top official tasters, highly esteemed and remembered to this day for his talents. In 1984, he decided to move, together with his precious barrels, to the nearby village of Bagno, to the home of his daughter Lucia, where he died in 1998, at the age of ninety. Libero’s invaluable legacy was taken up by his daughter Lucia, whose husband Giuseppe has joined her in investing passion and commitment in the family vinegar business. In the early 2000s, following the restructuring of the whole business, Giuseppe decided to dedicate the entire attic of a splendid building constructed opposite their home to the barrels of prized balsamic vinegar, thus creating the perfect environment for the slow aging of the product.