The Rum Historian title
The Fathers of History, over there in ancient Athens, were all mostly historians of the present, their present of course. Therefore – “if little things with great we may compare” (Virgilio / Dryden) – it will be no surprise if your Rum Historian in this article deals not with the past of rum, but with its present and maybe with its future, too. More articles of this kind will follow.”
So, I wrote in an article of 5 years ago, THE TRAVELLING RUM HISTORIAN TO COPENHAGEN FOR THE 1° NORDIC RUM FEST in the June 2019 issue of our magazine. Soon afterwards, unfortunately, things took a different turn. First there came Covid, then a series of personal problems which made traveling difficult for me, and that now-distant article wasn’t followed by any others.
Now, I hope to be able to start travelling again, fingers crossed.
I have just come back from a short, but intense and exciting group tour to Sicily. The journey was organised by Marco Graziano, one of the most knowledgeable and passionate rum experts in Italy – check out his website Le Vie del Rum (The Roads of Rum). We set off on April 10th and spent three days touring Eastern Sicily, visiting Avola, Modica, Noto, Messina and Taormina, going to see sugarcane fields and distilleries, speaking to producers, learning a lot and, of course, sipping rums, and some wine too. Of course, three days isn’t much, but still, better than nothing. If things go well, I hope to be able to return there in the near future, with more time to take it all in.
But … Sicily? Why, you may ask, should we rum geeks be interested in Sicily? Let me tell you: because today, rum is being produced in Sicily, and it is excellent.
Let’s start from the beginning.
In the very center of the Mediterranean, lies the ancient island of Sicily. It’s the largest island in the Mediterranean, just under 10,000 square miles; to give you an idea, it is slightly larger than Vermont. Inhabited since prehistoric times, it was later colonised by a long series of invaders. In chronological order: Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, French, Spanish and finally, in 1860-61 Garibaldi, with his ‘The Thousand’, united it with Italy. The last invasion was in 1943, when the Allied Forces landed in Sicily and began the liberation of Europe from Nazism and Fascism.
It is a true gem, perhaps the brightest pearl in the Mediterranean. “Nowhere else in the world will you find such a wealth of monuments from so wide a variety of civilizations … gathered in so small a space and combined with so much that is Sicily’s own: the dazzling baroque, for example, of Noto, ragusa and Modica, the almost unbelievable stucco work of Giacomo Serpotta, even the traditional puppet theatre which, quite apart from its very considerable entertainment value, helps immeasurably in our understanding of the Sicilian people and their past.” (John Julius Norwich “SICILY A Short History from the Ancient Greeks to Cosa Nostra” 2015)
According to most scholars, sugarcane originates from South-Eastern Asia and was later cultivated in India and China millennia B.C.E. The Arabs came across it in India where they arrived, first as merchants and then as conquerors, between the VII and IX centuries C.E. They spread it throughout their vast empire, first in the Middle East, then in North Africa and Spain.
The Arabs conquered Sicily too, roughly in the first half of IX century, and ruled it for approximately two centuries. Then came the Normans, who in 1130 established the Kingdom of Sicily, but a significant Arab and Muslim population remained on the island thanks to the tolerance of the new rulers. Among the many innovations that the Arabs brought to Sicily was sugarcane, later locally called “cannamela”.
In Sicily, sugarcane cultivation experienced ups and downs, but we know for a fact that, since around 1450, Sicilian sugar was regularly exported in substantial quantities to Genoa, Venice and across the whole of Europe. Those were not large-scale plantations in the American style, worked by slaves. Instead, they were smaller enterprises, called “Trappeto”, where mostly free workers were employed. To squeeze the cane, they didn’t use the two-, then three- roller vertical mill as they did in America, but rather a press similar to those used for olives. For two centuries, Sicilian sugar was an important element of European trade, but in the 1600s production began to decrease. Most scholars believe that Sicilian sugar knuckled under the competition from the large quantities of cheap sugar arriving from the large American plantations; according to others the decline depended on local factors, such as changes in the climate, timber shortage, the burden of excessive taxation, etc. Anyway, by the second half of the 1700s, commercial sugar production in Sicily had practically disappeared. Travellers of the time reported that only a few, small plots of land remained where sugarcane was still cultivated, by then only as a personal passion of some wealthy landowners.
In 1825, Gaspare Vaccaro published a captivating book “Sul richiamo della canna zuccherina in Sicilia e sulle ragioni che lo esiggono” (On the Revival of Sugarcane in Sicily and the Reasons Demanding it). The author, convinced that sugarcane could be successfully cultivated again in Sicily thanks to the help of modern knowhow, planted a small sugarcane field on his land. He tended it for several years, observed, experimented and reflected on his experience. He devoted an entire chapter to rum, which he produced using not molasses, but pure cane juice, claiming that it is of excellent quality. There is also a lengthy SUPPLEMENT dedicated to the translation from a French book, “Manuel des habitants de Saint Domingue … et de faire le Rum a la manera Anglaise” (“Handbook of the inhabitants of Saint Domingue … and how to make rum in the English manner”) by J.S. Du Coeur Joly, published in Paris in 1802. It is an interesting text, describing the traditional process of rum-making with pot stills at the end of the 1700s, right before Jean-Baptiste Cellier-Blumenthal, Aeneas Coffey and the Column Still. Unfortunately, it does not include the original text. Despite some research online, I have not been able to find it and, as we know, translations are not always to be trusted. Especially since Vaccaro himself candidly admits that he knows nothing about distillation (and does not even drink the rum he produces!). Anyway, as far as I know, Vaccaro’s experiment had no further effect and did not lead to renewed large-scale sugarcane cultivation in Sicily. Small plots of sugarcane persisted for a little time, especially around the city of Avola, in the province of Syracuse in Eastern Sicily.
In 1878 a renowned local scholar, Giuseppe Bianca, published “Monografia agraria del territorio d’Avola in Sicilia” (“Agricultural Monograph of the Territory of Avola in Sicily”) in which he wrote: “Sugarcane … It is a plant of ancient knowledge and long-standing naturalization in this district where, until the middle of the last century, it supplied a large sugar-making laboratory maintained at the expense of the Duke of Terranuova, whose ruins still endure today. After the competition from American sugars and a combination of various other economic circumstances brought that industry to an end, a few enthusiasts continued to cultivate it on an extremely limited scale to produce an excellent rhum, far superior to those available on the market. However, it is not economically profitable nor can it vie with the competition, due to the high production costs.” I am not sure of the exact date, but shortly after the publication of Bianca’s book sugarcane cultivation disappeared entirely, and Sicilian sugar and rum faded into oblivion.
Until something totally unexpected happened. At the end of last century, a visionary entrepreneur, Corrado Bellia, already a protagonist of the local economy and a promoter of the famous Avola almond, decided to attempt replanting sugarcane. Many thought it was a crazy idea, but Bellia persevered and between 2019 and 2020 he procured three (3!) sugarcane stalks from Spain and planted them near Avola. There it took root, grew, formed a small home-grown crop and in July 2021 the first harvest was made, which produced enough juice to be fermented, distilled and bottled. Corrado Bellia finally released his rum, named AVOLA RUM, at Christmas 2021, the first Sicilian rum in over a century. A small, yet great miracle that, as an Italian and a rum enthusiast, fills me with admiration and enthusiasm. Thank you, Corrado!
The sugarcane harvest takes place between December and April, depending on the sugar content achieved. The cane is cut, by hand, at the base, where the highest sugar concentration is found, with the leaves and tips removed. The latter, if properly preserved, can be planted again in the spring to create new plantations. The cane is pressed to extract the juice. This is followed by a long fermentation process and then a double bain-marie distillation in a Pot Still, at the Giovi Distillery in Messina. Avola Rum is therefore made from pure sugarcane juice, not with molasses, and it retains all the richness, fullness, the floral and herbaceous aromas of an excellent, agricultural rum, rivaling even the famous, prestigious rums of the French Antilles. However, legally it cannot bear the name “Agricultural Rum” because European regulations restrict the use of this term to the rums produced, furthermore with specific characteristics, in the French overseas territories and on the Portuguese island of Madeira. It is a young rum, not aged, which is precisely the type of rum I prefer. Each year, between 500 and 700 bottles are produced. Naturally, the price is high, it is a rum for a select group of enthusiasts, of whom I am honored to be part.
Avola Rum was not alone for long. Shortly after, in nearby Modica, already famous for its chocolate, a new company, Distilleria Alma, was established, which launched its own rum, MATER RUM. Alma performs the whole process: they cultivate the cane, press it in the distillery to extract the juice, ferment, distil and bottle on site. They have two varieties of cane, the purple and the yellow one. The former, sweet and fruity, ripens more slowly, reaching as high as 21 degrees brix; the yellow, more precocious, chlorophyllic, brought from Spain, at 23 degrees brix is ready to reveal all its aromatic power. The harvest is carried out from March to June, by hand. The juice is fermented with oenological yeasts, for 72-96 hours, at a controlled temperature. They use small, powerful copper stills, with a 600-liter bain-marie pot still and a column still with four plates. For now, they offer 3 different types of rum 2 white unaged rums, and 1 spicy variety, but they are already exploring barrel aging. They produce several thousand bottles per year, which are sold in Italy, France and also in the United States, where they are distributed by Spaghetti Western Imports. They aim to grow, and they have everything it takes to succeed; right during our trip, one of their rums won an award at the prestigious Paris Rhum Fest Award 2025.
But that’s not all, things always come in three. Giovi Distillery, after its experience with Avola Rum, decided to produce its own rum as well. The production process is still underway, and we had the privilege of testing some samples, which show great promise. Furthermore, we know that some young Sicilian entrepreneurs are planning similar projects, and there are rumors that major players in the Italian beverage industry are interested in these novel developments. Last, but not least, new rums have emerged in various parts of Italy, some made from locally grown sugarcane, others using imported molasses or syrup. They are small-scale companies with limited production, catering to niche markets. However, Italy certainly does not lack suitable land, expertise, skills and passion. In short, all the right conditions are in place for Italian Rum to grow and become an important part of the World of Rum.
Marco Pierini
