According to family memories and to references in books dedicated to the Val Rendena, the Boroni distilled gentian spirit in the early Nineteenth Century. The family began the artisan production of distillates in earnest in 1849, when the distillery was enrolled in the Trento Chamber of Commerce and Crafts. Further documentation testifying just how long the Boroni family has been distilling gentian root spirit is an authorisation to gather the roots issued by the Pelugo municipality in 1852. Cesare Boroni (the great grandfather of the current owner) owned a small family-run distillery in the village of Borzago. Through continuous, patient and laborious trial and error, he eventually perfected the process to produce this unique distillate, and he handed these methods down to his son Giovanni.
Giovanni significantly expanded the production activities of the distillery in the period around 1920, and even won second prize in the first expo dedicated to artisan production and small businesses from the Giudicarie area. The medal was represented in the label designed at the time, and it still appears today as a symbol of continuity. The passion and dedication of Giovanni were inherited by his sons Cesare, Elsa, Ernesto and Giulio, who continued the family business maintaining the same hand-crafted methods and characteristics of their product. In addition to gentian root spirit, the Boroni family also used similar methods to produce distillates made from masterwort root and juniper berries. The company closed in 1972 due to family reasons, but, from 2000, Giulio, with his wife Bruna and his sons Giovanni, Marisa, Patrizia, has now decided to reopen the business in response to requests from those who still remember ‘Genziana Boroni’, and to prevent a name with well over a century of history from fading away. |