Production Notes
Meletti Anisetta is produced from green anise (pimpinella anisum) sourced from the Ascolano area of Le Marche, where the unique clay soils impart an exceptional aromatic intensity to the crop — up to two to three times more fragrant than anise grown elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Silvio Meletti himself advised that seeds be collected by hand, selecting only medium-sized specimens: discarding the very large (insufficiently fragrant) and leaving the very small (not yet fully ripe) to mature further. This meticulous approach to raw material selection remains central to the Meletti philosophy. The anise is processed by discontinuous distillation in a water bath, preserving the full aromatic complexity of the raw material. A secondary ‘aromatic’ distillation of selected fruits, seeds, and flowers is blended with the base distillate before the addition of pure alcohol and a measured sweetening to round the palate. The production process — from raw material transformation through to ageing in large steel barrels — has remained entirely unchanged, preserving the artisanal approach of the founder in every bottle.
Producer History
The Silvio Meletti Company was founded in 1870 in Ascoli Piceno, Le Marche, by Silvio Meletti — a self-taught distiller who learned the craft from his mother, who sold a homemade anise distillate from her small shop. Drawing on French treatises on distillation dating to the 18th century (a copy of which remains in the family’s possession), Silvio perfected a recipe and technique that would go on to define the company and the region.
An extraordinarily precise and driven entrepreneur, Silvio personally oversaw every aspect of the business — from production and raw material cultivation to sales and advertising. He was among the first in Italy to embrace newspaper and street sign advertising, commissioning posters from leading artists of the era, most notably Marcello Dudovich of Trieste, who became one of the defining figures of Italian advertising history. His ambition quickly took Anisetta Meletti beyond local borders, earning an Honourable Mention at the Paris International Exhibition of 1878 and going on to accumulate an extraordinary roll of international honours across four decades — including gold medals in Ostend, Turin, Athens, and Brussels, Grand Prix awards in Senigallia, Turin, Ghent, and Milan, and a Diploma of Honour in Brussels in 1910. In 1918, Silvio Meletti became the first Knight of Labour of the city of Ascoli Piceno, and King Umberto I granted the company the coveted patent of ‘Supplier of the Royal House’.
In 1903, Silvio purchased the Regie Poste building on Ascoli’s magnificent Piazza del Popolo and transformed it into the legendary Caffè Meletti — one of the finest Liberty-style buildings in Italy, described at the time as “a coffee worthy of a European capital.” He personally oversaw the interior design, even incorporating the anise plant as an ornamental motif in the phytoform ceilings — his signature, rendered in plaster for posterity. The Caffè became the cultural heart of Ascoli Piceno and remains a symbol of the city to this day, now owned by the Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno Foundation.
After Silvio’s death, his son Aldo joined the business as commercial manager, touring Italy to support the national sales network — communicating with his father by letters sent ahead to hotels along pre-planned routes, in the absence of telephone or telegraph. Aldo died young at forty, leaving his seven-year-old son Silviano in the care of his wife Annamaria, who assumed leadership of the company and steered it through to Silviano’s coming of age — the only woman to lead Meletti in its 138-year history, and the person to whom the company’s survival is owed. Silviano Meletti subsequently led the company from the 1950s through to 2005, holding numerous civic roles including President of the Ascoli Piceno Chamber of Commerce.
Today, more than 150 years after its founding, the Meletti Company remains entirely family-owned and in its fifth generation of stewardship. The production techniques and recipes elaborated by Silvio Meletti in 1870 are followed without alteration, whilst modern bottling technology, market analysis, and global distribution bring Anisetta Meletti to new audiences around the world. The challenge today, as it was in the 19th century, is to carry the tradition, quality, and typicality of a great Italian product into new markets — and to let the liqueur speak for itself.
