Lazzaroni Amaretto

Lazzaroni Amaretto is unique, it is the only liqueur made from the famous Amaretti del Chiostro biscuits, a speciality of the town of Saronno in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. First, the biscuits are crushed into small pieces which are then soaked in an hydroalcoholic solution for one month to enrich it with an aromatic taste and the intense flavour of the biscuits. After one month a secret blend of aromatic distillates, herbs, and oils is mixed with the aromatic infusion. The blend is then mixed with water and sugar, filtrated and bottled after a resting period of 24 hours. The Amaretto biscuit originated in Saronno during the early 18th century, when a young couple greeted a visting Milanese bishop or cardinal with a tribute of these baked biscuits made of sugar, egg whites, and crushed apricot kernels or almonds. The Amaretto liqueur is said to have been created somewhat earlier in 1525 by a young widow in Saronno, when she steeped apricot kernels in brandy as a gift to the artist Bernardino Luini who had immortalised her as the Madonna in frescos he painted for the local church.