Vecchio Magazzino Doganale

Region: Calabria

Story: That night it rained, the sea was stormy, it was me, Gil, Roger and the great Jefferson, our captain.
The ship seemed to leave us at the mercy of the waves, we were talking about our adventures, we could not wait to arrive in Italy, that great Country, to relax and depart again for the great continent. A tremendous wave or perhaps a sea dragon, I do not know if it exists, beat a massive blow and me and my friends were thrown on the ship’s bridge. We could not resist that dragon which was fatal, we thought not making it. To save us was that old trunk that we had on the ship. After a night at sea, Jefferson knew, somehow, that we were close to the land. Gil was praying, I do not know what he said in his despair… Of course the will to live was so great.
Our last strengths seemed to abandon us, when suddenly with my feet I touched the bottom. Roger shouted: “We are saved!” Exhausted, we laid down on that lovely beach. I don’t not know how many hours passed, perhaps a day, before our recovery. We found ourselves in a paradise, Jefferson warned that would be his eternal place, immediately said: “I’ll stay here forever.” Walk and walk, as in fairy tales, we walked along citrus and botanical trails, full of herbs. There we saw an Vecchio Magazzino Doganale where we found a family that received us. Giocondo, the owner, took us to work in his store, he was a seller of spices and smuggled distilled liquors. That warehouse Jefferson called it, I can never forget, “La Profumeria”. Years went by, I do not know how many, we fell in love of that territory that was filled every day with surprises, without ever losing the passion of our good drinking. Each of us had the raw material and knowledge to create their own liquor. I never made it, but they did.

“I’ll stay here forever.”