Giuseppe Gallo was serving spritz after spritz as a bartender in London—typically with Aperol or Campari—when it occurred to him that there was so many other liqueurs to explore. The Amalfi Coast-born entrepreneur recalled a bergamot-based spirit his grandmother used to make for guests visiting her home, and he realized there are so many aperitivos that have been forgotten to time.
That’s when Gallo decided to bring some classics back himself. Inspired by his old family recipe, he sourced bergamot from the Italian state of Calabria as well as Sicilian citrus. In 2016, he launched rosolio di bergamottoItalicus, using the Latin name in a nod to his Italian heritage. “I don’t want to play by the rules,” says the 43-year-old Gallo.
Italicus is now among the hottest spritz ingredients this summer, after Gallo carefully built his modern aperitivo empire in the past eight years. His group’s annual revenue is a modest $15 million, up from just $1 million five years ago, and his brand is sold in 40 countries from Mexico to New Zealand. While Gallo has a long way to go before Italicus is a true competitor to Aperol and Campari’s $400 million (sales) publicly traded parent company, he is also developing more liqueurs to expand the spritz category.
“I want to make sure that we are not going to duplicate anything. We are not going to replicate any other product,” says Gallo. “The goal is to innovate with a pipeline of new flavor profiles, quality products that are organic and natural, that are respectful to the history and the legacy of culture, but relevant for modern consumers.”
Frederico Doldi, the beverage director at New York’s Gansvoort Hotel, where Italicus and Gallo’s seecond liqueur, Savoia, are served as spritzes, negronis, manhattans, margaritas and other cocktails, often replacing other cocktail ingredients used in classic recipes: “They’re two incredible products, and they have history behind them,” he says, “Consumers are going more and more towards this, and there’s nothing similar.”
Securing the hot spots in key cities is part of Gallo’s strategy, which he calls a “citadel approach” because he fortifies sales in a few markets before moving on to more. New York, London, Milan and Rome came first, and then Gallo tackled Sydney, San Francisco, Miami, Singapore, Barcelona and Paris.
The liquor business, of course, can be very profitable,,but expanding into new markets with kinds of liqueurs that most consumers haven’t heard of before is difficult. Italicus sells for between $30 and $45 a bottle, roughly double the price of Campari. That helps Gallo net healthy margins. Most spirits can pull in net margins of 50% or more, though in the past few years, as the cost of shipping and packaging has jumped double-digits, some profits have been eroded. Forbes estimates that Gallo’s business pulls in 40% net margins, which is still more than most other food and beverage brands. Gallo declined to comment on his company’s specific profitability.
“We are never afraid to make a mistake,” he says. “We learn from them, but we’re going to keep pushing forward.”
Italicus is showing double-digit growth in most of its global markets, the biggest of which is the U.S., some 35% of the entire business.
Gallo grew up in the province of Salerno, near Naples. (He’s not related to the famous wine entrepreneur E.J. Gallo, or the family that still owns the business in the United States.) He became a bartender and tried to move to the U.S. but couldn’t get a visa, so in 2005 he moved to London, where his resume highlights include 6 years as a brand ambassador for Bacardi’s Martini Rossi and gigs like revamping the cocktail program at chef Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurants. But he was doing too much consulting and wanted to start his own brand.
“The goal from the beginning was to try to recreate something that will respect the history of the Italian drinking culture but bring it into the modern way,” Gallo recalls.
In its first year, Italicus won the coveted Best New Spirit award at the 2017 Spirited Awards—the first of many awards, including more than 50 gold medals for its taste. Unlike Aperol and Campari, Gallo’s spirits do not use any artificial colors, and the alcohol is even vegan-certified.
Within the first three years, Italicus sales rose to the nine-figure mark, and Gallo began looking for ways to rev up expansion. In 2020 he brought in Pernod Ricard, the publicly traded $12.45 billion (sales) maker of aperitifs like Lillet and Suze alongside bigger brands including Absolut vodka, Monkey 47 gin and Jameson whiskey. Pernod Ricard acquired a minority stake in Italicus for an undisclosed price, while taking on its distribution in key markets.
Expanding abroad with the help of Pernod Ricard does come with a price. It’s a classic spirits industry tactic for a bigger liquor conglomerate to invest in a smaller brand that shows promise. But Gallo says so far the partnership is worth it. Italicus is showing double-digit growth in most of its global markets, the biggest of which is the U.S., some 35% of the entire business.
That mirrors the overall trend of where amari are selling. According to spirits data firm IWSR, the U.S. is the fastest-growing market for aperitivo, increasing 11% each year since 2018, as the world’s other top markets flatlined. America is the world’s third-biggest market, though the 4% of global amari that sell in the U.S. is a tiny fraction of the top two. The Italian market makes up 62% and Germany accounts for another 24%.
As spritz culture grew in America Gallo launched Savoia Americano in 2021. Made with 22 different botanicals and Marsala wine blended together in a historic distillery in Turin, Italy, it’s Gallo’s alternative to compete with red-style aperitivo like Campari. It’s one that he hopes will continue to gain a following in the U.S. as classic Italian cocktails like negronis rise in popularity.
Unlike Italicus, Pernod Ricard has no involvement in Savoia, and Gallo is the sole owner of Italicus and Savoia’s holding company, ItalSpirits. So far, Savoia has around half of the sales as Italicus.
Gallo remains focused on expansion. Going deeper in Asia, South America and Canada are next. As is launching more of these carefully distilled liqueurs. Gallo envisions several under Italspirits and says he can bring a new bottle to market in under a year.
“I’m trying to make sure that it is relevant,” says Gallo. “Launching Savoia five years ago would have been a little bit too early. I want to wait so that the market is mature enough for certain products. I need to make sure that the consumer is ready.”