Ginrosa

Philanthropist and entrepreneur Annunciata Bournè took over operations of a wine shop on Milan’s Piazza San Babilà in the 1880s, a time when unaccompanied women were not allowed into bars, such as the popular Caffè Campari. For her place – called Ginrosa American Bar – Bournè thus made a rule that unaccompanied men were not allowed! She also invented a new apéritif for her female clientele with a pink (rosa) hue and a more delicately balanced bitterness than is found in Campari. (And fun fact: both brands’ namesake bars are still thriving today in the heart of Milan.)

Annunciata Bournè and her family came from Oleggio Castello, in the northern Piedmont province of Varese (where there’s a street named after her today). Thanks to her cousins, who at that time owned a fabbrica named Liquorificio Bournè, she was able to bottle and commercialize her proprietary aperitivo and the legend of Ginrosa Bitter was born. Ginrosa closely guards its all-natural formula that’s driven by conscientiously sourced pink juniper, cinchona, and other botanicals.