Girolamo Luxardo (entrepreneur)

He was born in Santa Margherita Ligure in Liguria, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1784.[1][2] Luxardo was the descendant of a noble Ligurian family.[1]

In 1817 he moved to Zara (today Zadar, Croatia).[1][2] His wife Maria Canevari produced liqueurs at home, specializing in "rosolio maraschino", a liquor from Dalmatia.[3] In 1821, he opened a distillery, receiving the privilege to produce maraschino from the Court of Vienna.[1][4] Thus he transformed the maraschino from home-made product into an industrial product that soon gained international fame.[1]

The presidency of Zadar's chamber of commerce, which was re-organized by Luxardo, was held by members of his family until 1943.[1] The members of the Luxardo family consolidated the trade relationships between Italy and Dalmatia.[1]

His distillery became the most important of Austria-Hungary and, after the World War I and the annexation of Zadar to Italy, one of the most important of the Kingdom of Italy.[1] The factory was destroyed in the 1943 bombings, and in the aftermath of World War II moved to Padua by his descendants.[1]

Luxardo died in 1865 in Zara (Zadar).[1]

• Girolamo Luxardo S.p.A.