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It is super strong, fennel flavored, as clear as water and in many Sardinian homes it is still produced illegally.
Filu 'e ferru, or “iron wire,” is an ancient drink with a dangerous past and an alcohol concentration of up to 45% that knocks out even those with a high tolerance.
Rosa Maria Scrugli was barely 23 years old when in 1970 she was sent on a work mission to the small town of Santu Lussurgiu, located in the wild area of Oristano, in western Sardinia, among rocky hills and caves.
For 400 years, this place of just 2,000 inhabitants has been producing a potent filu 'e ferru locally called “abbardente,” a word derived from Latin and aptly meaning “burning water.”
The mayor, the city's shoemaker, greeted Scrugli at noon with several welcome drinks, but when he had the second, he almost collapsed, falling on top of the mayor who was a little drunk.
“The next thing I knew, someone had dragged me away and I woke up in my hotel room with the worst hangover of my life. The mayor wasn't feeling very well either, but he was used to drinking filu 'e ferru. It was my first time and it was a shock,” Scrugli tells CNN.
Santu Lussurgiu is considered the cradle of the oldest Sardinian tradition of “acquavite”, which literally means “vine water” in Italian, and which indicates a premium alcohol distillate.
“Acquavite and abbardente are just synonyms for filu 'e ferru, which is a metaphor, part of a secret code invented later to refer to acquavite and thus escape police controls,” says Carlo Psiche, the only (legal) distiller of Santu Lussurgiu. .
It became a “forbidden” drink in the 19th century, when the Italian royal house of Savoy introduced taxes on alcohol production, starting an illegal trade that in Santu Lussurgiu continues on a large scale.
Until a few decades ago, police raids were frequent and farmers had to hide bottles of their filu 'e ferru in some secret place in their house or underground in their garden, marking the location with a piece of iron. Hence the name “iron wire”.
In creating that nickname, the locals could also have been inspired by the nearby rocky mountain range of volcanic origin called Montiferru, the “iron hill.”
What has always made Santu Lussurgiu aquavite exceptional, unlike those produced in the rest of Sardinia, is that it is distilled from wine, not pomace, a spirit made from the residue of the skins and seeds of the grapes after wine extraction. . Therefore, it is not a grappa, Italy's favorite after-meal drink.
Psiche claims that its Distillerie Lussurgesi, which features copper stills used for old-style distillation processes, is the only one among the five filu 'e ferru distilleries in the region that uses real wine instead of pomace or “vinacce.”
Meanwhile, families in the village have been making filu 'e ferru at home since the late 16th century, after monks from the local abbey introduced this potent alcoholic spirit to the area.
“At first it was used for its medical and therapeutic properties, especially for toothaches, but then people realized that it was also excellent as a drink,” says Psiche.
Police raids and secret signals.
Everyone in the village still secretly makes abbardente at home. None of them pay taxes for it, except Psiche, who runs a business.
Nowadays things are less risky than in the past. After all, many Italians make wine and all kinds of spirits at home, and the authorities no longer knock on people's doors unless they have created a large-scale business.
Psiche remembers that until the 1960s, when the tax police patrolled the town in search of clandestine producers, people rushed to hide their bottles and stills, shouting to each other the emergency code “filu 'e ferru”. It was like a curfew signal.
“I was just a child, but I remember that the adults described the police who parked their cars in front of the town hall and roamed around hunting the illegal producers like hunting dogs.”
Fennel seeds are added to filu 'e ferru to soften the spicy flavor, and given its intense aroma, the smell of fennel emanating from houses sometimes helped police track illegal activities.
“There was a messenger in the town whose job was to announce local laws, events and measures by means of a trumpet. When the abbardente's raids occurred, he used another key to warn people,” says Psiche.
Italians and foreigners who knew the secret filu 'e ferru flocked to Santu Lussurgiu to buy whole jars, Psiche says, but they asked too many questions at the risk of exposing the producers. So, finally the locals decided to go underground.
The town had about 40 distilleries by the end of the 19th century, when filu 'e ferru had become a popular drink and was exported throughout Italy. However, the distilleries closed at the beginning of the 20th century and production became solely “national”.
Psiche, a former mechanic, decided to recover the ancient town tradition of acquavite 20 years ago. His abbardente, made from fresh local white grapes, comes in two versions, both aged for at least 12 months.
The abbardente, clear as water, has an intense and enveloping flavor with a light flavor of nuts and almonds, and is diluted with water from a spring in a nearby town. It is aged in steel tanks.
Instead, the amber-colored abbardente is aged in oak barrels. The maturation of the wood gives it a sweet flavor reminiscent of honey and homemade bread.
Psiche Craft Distillery features antique distilling artifacts and an original aquavite bottle from 1860. It has several American customers in Ohio and Chicago, where many villagers emigrated.
“Our village has always used wine instead of pomace because the vineyards here tend to produce too much, so the best way to avoid waste was to use the wine to make abbardente,” says Psiche.
While men tended the fields, the production of filu 'e ferru in Sardinia was a women's business. Wives, daughters and grandmothers became experts in distillation. Initially, huge copper vessels, traditionally for milk, sealed with flour dough were used to heat the wine. Later, ladies turned to copper stills.
Sardinians have a love affair with their “hot water”, just as Neapolitans do with coffee.
Although it is excellent as an after-dinner digestif, when it's time to toast, a shot of abbardente works well.
According to Psiche, it is also a drink with which to observe death: when someone dies it is customary to enjoy a glass of filu 'e ferru during the midnight wake in honor of the deceased.
Filu 'e ferru is as fiery as the Sardinians who continue to make it at home, like their ancestors, respecting tradition. They believe it can be drunk as pure water.
A woman from Santu Lussurgiu, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested by authorities, says it's not just for special occasions: “Those who like it drink it at any time of the day, even at breakfast “.
To make filu 'e ferru strictly for personal consumption, he uses a huge still that belongs to his grandparents and has been in the family since the 1960s.
“It takes me half a day to distill the wine that grows on our land. In addition to fennel, I often add wormwood,” she said.
The woman says she has now also involved her son in the daily preparation of her homemade filu 'e ferru, perhaps a sign that times are changing and that men like Psiche should play a key role in preserving the alcoholic heritage. .
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