Limoncello is — for many visitors to Italy — a quintessential holiday drink. It’s synonymous with long, languid dinners in southern Italy, a marker to signal the end of the meal and the beginning of dancing and merriment.

Just like other classic Italian consumables like carbonara or tiramisù, though, the history of this bittersweet Italian liqueur isn’t as ancient as we might imagine. Depending on who you ask, the roots of limoncello can be traced back to Sorrento, Amalfi or Capri, with whimsical stories about merchant traders and monks bottling the stuff throughout the Middle Ages. In reality, it’s likely that every village had its own recipe for lemon-infused alcohol.