By Chiara Pietrella
In the heart of Tuscany, where the green hills of the Valdichiana blend with the severe elegance of the Valdorcia, stands Chianciano Terme. It is a landscape designed by wind and history, characterized by orderly rows of cypresses, vineyards that change colour with the seasons and that thermal steam that rises from the earth like an ancient breath. In this scenario of absolute beauty, Famiglia Santoni is not just a company, but a garrison of liqueur culture that for over sixty years has been transforming the essences of the territory into sips of pure pleasure.
The history of the Santoni Distillery began in 1960 thanks to the vision of Gabriello Santoni. It all began in a small garage near the historic centre of Chianciano Terme, where passion, experience and entrepreneurial spirit came together to give life to an artisanal production destined to leave its mark. At a time when Italy was rediscovering the pleasure of conviviality in the post-war period, Gabriello understood that the secret of a great liqueur lay in the quality of the raw materials. This is how the Rhubarb Santoni, designed as an aperitif, and the Amaro di Chianciano, ideal as an after meal, were born. Both with an alcohol content of only 16 degrees, they were created specifically for tourists who stayed in Chianciano Terme for spa treatments, offering a lighter alternative to the bitters of the time, generally characterized by a higher alcohol content. His intuition was clear: to enhance the flavours of rhubarb infusion and other precious herbs and medicinal spices through slow, accurate and time-respecting maceration processes. A production philosophy born in the heart of Tuscany and destined to become the hallmark of the Santoni distillery.
With the generational transition, the family has been able to keep intact the craftsmanship of the beginnings, while embracing technological innovation and contemporary aesthetics. Today the Santoni family is synonymous with a cosmopolitan “Tuscanity”, capable of bringing the taste of Chianciano to the most exclusive and prestigious international cocktail bars. The bond between the family and the territory is ancestral: each recipe tells a piece of this land, creating a sensory bridge between the glass and the surrounding landscape.
2025 marked a milestone for the brand with the move to the new Casa Santoni, the company’s production and experiential headquarters, built thanks to the work of Archidomus. It is not just a company headquarters, but an ambitious architectural project that aims to redefine the concept of hospitality in the world of distillation. The project has given shape to a place capable of integrating the production function, hospitality and story of the brand, combining warm materials, contemporary elements and large windows that seem to frame the Sienese hills as works of art. Casa Santoni is today a multifunctional experiential center, where the heart of innovation beats and the tradition of the past meets the creativity of the future. Inside, visitors can immerse themselves in the “Botanical Garden”, an area dedicated to the olfactory discovery of botanicals, or participate in masterclasses in the scenic tasting room. The project has placed an emphasis on sustainability, with energy recovery systems that reflect the family’s deep respect for the environment that hosts it.
Santoni L’Aperitivo, the most international and contemporary project of the Santoni family, is also part of this evolution path. Born as a refined reinterpretation of the traditional Italian ritual of the aperitif and as a natural evolution of the famous Amaro Santoni, it preserves its soul and characteristic aromatic profile, reinterpreting them through a modern aesthetic and sensory language. Santoni L’Aperitivo combines, in fact, the company’s historic liqueur tradition with an imagery inspired by Florence, the cradle of Italian elegance, art and the culture of beauty. The distinctive design of the bottle and its contemporary identity celebrate this link with the Tuscan cultural heritage, projecting it into an international dimension. With its bitter-sweet, fresh and aromatic profile, built around rhubarb and a selection of fine botanicals, Santoni L’Aperitivo represents one of the most current expressions of the Santoni family’s vision: to bring an authentic Italian aperitif to the world, capable of speaking a contemporary, sensory and cosmopolitan language, without ever losing the link with its roots.
Hard work and the constant search for perfection found a new consecration during the 2026 edition of the Vinitaly Design Award, a competition promoted by Veronafiere as part of the prestigious Vinitaly fair, which enhances packaging as a strategic lever for building brand identity and for their competitiveness in international markets. In a year characterized by fierce competition, the Santoni family obtained three prestigious awards assigned to the design of three products in the collection: Rhubarb Vermouth, Black Award in the Liqueur Wines category, the highest recognition in the category; Rhubarb Santoni, Silver Award in the Dark Spirits category; Rhubarb gin, Bronze Award in the Clear Spirits category. Three awards in three different categories that enhance the new visual identity of the line, developed in collaboration with the international studio Stranger & Stranger, and the ability of the packaging to coherently interpret the distinctive character of each reference: from the botanical elegance of the Rhubarb Vermouth to the intensity of the Santoni Rhubarb, up to the contemporary profile of the Rhubarb Gin.
Thanks to the boost of the awards received and the beauty of the new headquarters, the company is preparing to launch new projects related to sustainable mixology and collaboration with local growers for the protection of biodiversity. In fact, in a sip of the Santoni family there is all this: the work of those who preserve a tradition, the wisdom of those who know how to wait for the time of maceration and the elegance of a family that has been able to transform a name into a symbol not only local, but also international.
Info:
Gabriello Santoni Srl
Casa Santoni – Strada delle Cavine e Valli 36B
53042 Chianciano Terme (SI)
- +39 0578 63778