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 Once upon a time there was a family, a kitchen and a lot of passion
Our story began four generations ago, when the family began to age balsamic vinegar in precious wooden casks. A sweet inheritance prepared with love, by our fathers, as a dowry for each daughter. In 1973 grandfather Mario opened a restaurant in Piazza della Dama, and called it "Al Castello". Simple dishes and recipes from the purest traditions of Modena were the guarantee of his cuisine. Thanks to grandmother Clementina’s passion for cooking, and then ours, the restaurant soon became a favourite with our regular clients. Quite often our friendship with some of them grew so close that they begged us to let them take a "piece" of our restaurant's cuisine home with them - a souvenir that we offered in the form of preserves or Balsamic Vinegar. We then went to the house pantry, an enormous cupboard in dark wood, where we kept the winter supplies of vegetables in oil and vinegar and the preserves prepared during the summer. This was also where our Balsamic Vinegar was kept, stored in heavy terracotta jars.
1975. La Vecchia Dispensa
At last, in 1975 “La Vecchia Dispensa” was created. We decided to stay in Piazza della Dama, just a short distance from the restaurant, in the family home, overlooking the valley. The square, which we have always had a close bond with, is the place where our children grew up. In the small artisan workshop on the ground floor, the grape must was cooked, filling the square with its sweet, penetrating aromas. The traditional Modenese recipes that we handed down from generation to generation were thus transformed into endless rows of pots and jars, all patiently resting on wooden shelves. The shop upstairs was, and still is, the chosen outlet for offering our products. Last but not least, on reaching the loft, one could find the Acetaia, where for decades we kept the old casks for vinegar and utensils to look after it, a treasure to show off to our friends and restaurant clients.
 
The family treasure: The “Acetaia”
In front of the Dispensa, overlooking Piazza della Dama, stands the centuries old Prison Tower. Inside this building our family now keeps the oldest barrels and the most treasured memories, protected by its solid stone walls. A magnificent spiral staircase links the cells, where for centuries the prisoners of the castle where kept locked away behind heavy wooden doors; now all that remains are signatures and prayers etched into the walls. Today, however, these heavy bolts protect access to our “treasure”, that ages here in the shadows, far from prying eyes. These are the most precious memories of the family history, all Modenese pride that remains enclosed in environments that are steeped in human existence. In fact, in the casks we rediscover the memories of our childhood, spent between rows of scented wooden barrels, learning those gestures that were established in bygone days, rituals learned by watching and retold with the simplicity of those that have made them their own. No manual can teach how to make vinegar, because balsamic vinegar is obtained, not made.
The Casks. Women, wood and scented memories
To give credit to the work of previous generations, preserve it and pass on to those of the future: this is our pride and honour. Every set of barrels of Balsamic Vinegar tells a story that always begins with a woman’s name. Thus we go back in time, to when the prestige of a family was measured by the number of barrels. Family women, grandmothers, aunts, great-grandmothers, strong and tenacious like the wood of the barrels, but sweet and scented, like their precious content. But, first and foremost, mothers capable of generating life, like the precious “Mothers” of the Balsamic. All this is concentrated inside the barrels with the passing of the seasons, it ages like those faces engraved in the old family photographs, their colours may be faded, but the memories are so vivid. Thus each of them can be found once more in every drop of our Balsamic. Essentially, what is Balsamic Vinegar? It is the tireless search for harmony in aromas passed down from generation to generation, a miraculous balance that only the alchemy of time and the expert touch of tenacious men know how to create.
La Vecchia Dispensa today Our family treasures the inheritance that our forefathers have left us, a fortune that we look after with the passion that they themselves handed down to us. Every day we face new challenges with the perseverance that our fathers taught us, based on the conviction that only by respecting tradition, time and raw materials we can obtain excellent products. To this we add small family secrets, simple rules that we never overlook and that we have continued to follow for four generations.
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Our history 