Gaspare Campari

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Gaspare Campari (born April 27, 1828 in Cassolnovo , Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto , † December 14, 1882 in Milan , Italy ) was an Italian entrepreneur. He developed the famous Campari bitter liqueur and is considered the founder of the spirits group Davide Campari, Milano, SpA (today's company , also known as the "Campari Group").

Camparino in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Campari tomb on the Cimitero Monumentale Milan

Campari is said to come from a rural family and was the youngest of twelve children. While his eldest brother Davide received a medical education and eventually rose to Promedico , Gaspare found himself in Turin at the age of 14 looking for work . He began training in the then well-known liquor store and Caffè ( Bar ) Bassa , became the bartender's assistant and learned how to mix liqueurs and aperitifs . He later moved to Novara , where he set up his own business in 1860, selling liqueurs and other drinks, among other things. Apparently with success, because the shop was mentioned in a city guide as early as 1861. The year 1860 is also considered to be the founding year of today's spirits company Davide Campari, Milano, SpA and the Gruppo Campari ("Campari Group"). In 1862 Gaspare Campari married his second wife Letizia Galli and moved with her to their hometown Milan that same year . There he took over the Milan Cathedral located Caffè Amicizia Palazzo Coperto dei Figini on the Piazza del Duomo . After the palazzo was demolished in 1864, Campari moved into his Caffè Campari on the corner of the shopping center, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II , which opened in 1867 in the same place . There is still a bar called Camparino there today .

The production of his famous bitter liqueur also began in Milan. Initially referred to as Bitter all'uso d'Olanda ("Dutch style bitter"), the name Bitter Campari soon became common among its customers . The intensely red, bittersweet liqueur is still sold worldwide, albeit with various adjustments to the recipe.

Gaspare Campari was married twice. With his second wife Letizia, he had five children (Giuseppe, Antonietta, Eva, Davide and Guido), of whom Davide and Guido joined the company, and after his death in 1882 they became Gaspare Campari. Fratelli Campari successori ("Gaspare Campari. Campari Brothers Successors"), while his eldest son Giuseppe became a writer.

literature

  • Mauro Gobbini:  Campari, Davide. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 17:  Calvart-Canefri. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1974, begins with a biographical section on the father Gaspare.
  • Artefici del lavoro italiano . A cura dell'Istituto di arti e mestieri per gli orfani dei lavoratori italiani caduti in guerra FD Roosevelt Vol.1, Rome 1956 (accessible via WBIS ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ data and places by Mauro Gobbini ( Dictionnaire Biografico degli Italiani , 1974). The Artefici del lavaro italiano (1956) names April 14th 1828 as the birthday; the persons database NNDB are probably erroneously as a place of death Rome to: Gaspare Campari in the Notable Names Database (English)
  2. ↑ A Promedico was originally a kind of "court doctor", but it also supervised the public health system until the middle of the 19th century.
  3. ↑ Mauro Gobbini calls the shop “Confetteria” (confectionery shop), while the Artefici del lavaro italiano speaks of a “liquorificìo” (liqueur manufacturer).
  4. ↑ So Artefici del Lavoro italiano in 1862, according to Mauro Gobbini until 1865
  5. ↑ Mauro Gobbini; the persons database NNDB Gaspare Campari in the nndb (English)
personal data
SURNAME Campari, Gaspare
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian liquor manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Cassolnovo , Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1882
Place of death Milan , Italy