In Italy, 2023 was good year for whisky. Five distilleries unveiled their inaugural releases, and many others are set to hit the market in the coming years. It signals the arrival of a new era for a country that has always been distinguished by a large number of enthusiasts, but never acknowledged as a whisky-making country.

The European nation has a long-standing tradition of independent whisky bottling — in the 1960s and 1970s, notable figures such as Silvano Samaroli started looking for premium Scottish whiskies, successfully promoting single malts in a market that was dominated by blends — but whisky production in Italy only began in earnest about a decade ago.