The chinotto soft drink is a historic carbonated beverage typical of Made in Italy based on the citrus fruit of the same name, recently back in fashion. We retrace for you its history, the main stages and characteristics but also the background and the counterfeits

Chinotto is a classic non-alcoholic carbonated drink, delicately bitter and pleasantly thirst-quenching , as well as a traditional Made in Italy drink whose history has been intertwined several times with events and trends in our country. Let's study its characteristics and retrace its main stages, from its birth in the 1940s to its recent rediscovery and relative commercial success.

The citrus fruit with which the historic drink is made

Despite the fame of the drink, the fruit with which it has been made for over fifty years is much less known. Chinotto (Citrus myrtifolia) is a citrus fruit that looks similar to an orange but is smaller and flatter in shape and has a bitter, acidic taste that makes it almost inedible. Its juice is used to make the carbonated drink of the same name, as well as various liqueurs and digestive drinks , the fruit is used to make jams and candied fruit, and finally the peel is used to make scented essential oils that are then used in beauty products such as soaps and detergents. The cultivation and production of chinotto in Italy mainly concerns the regions of Sicily, Calabria, the Ligurian Riviera and Tuscany, while abroad those of the French Riviera are well-known.

Origins and main stages of the history of the chinotto drink

The first company to understand the nutritional potential of this bitter and unloved fruit seems to have been San Pellegrino, which in 1932 created the original recipe for the carbonated drink that we all know and still drink today. At the time, among other things, due to Fascism, the potential American rival Coca Cola was not looked upon favorably, so the path to a 100% Italian drink was already paved. The commercial success, the diffusion throughout the country and the popularity of chinotto were consolidated in the immediate post-war period and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to the Neri brand and its much-loved commercials and the slogan “ It's not chinotto if there's no 8 ”.

International success came in the 1980s when San Pellegrino began exporting its Chinò brand (“ The drink out of the ordinary ”) all over the world.

In more recent times we have witnessed the rediscovery and commercial relaunch of chinotto and other historic non-alcoholic drinks Made in Italy such as spuma and cedrata, which has coincided with the birth of numerous new brands of chinotto and new cocktail recipes with chinotto as the protagonist. Among counterfeit and dubious quality drinks, noteworthy brands have also seen the light, including Chinotto Borea&Rossi , which has focused on vintage-looking glass bottles and minimalist-style labels, but above all on the use of citrus fruits from the Riviera Ligure di Ponente , a Slow Food presidium.

Chinotto drink and its characteristics

The chinotto soft drink is characterized by its amber color, citrus scent, and thirst-quenching properties, and is considered perfect as a summer drink, as an aperitif or even as an accompaniment to meals . The ingredients of its recipe include the fruit extract or in substitution the flavoring (natural or artificial), water, sugar, various flavorings, carbon dioxide and lemon juice. In Italy, by law, fruit-based soft drinks must contain at least 12% of its juice but those like chinotto, produced from "non-juice" fruits, are an exception; in this case, in fact, the decree allows the use of natural flavoring substances as an alternative to juice.

This has meant that many of the chinotti produced in Italy have moved away from the traditional natural recipe, offering low-quality carbonated drinks, rich in artificial flavors, colorants and terribly sugary, which only have the name of the fruit; for this reason it is advisable to always check the ingredients contained and their origin, but above all to turn to those who allow direct access to the purchase of authentic Italian excellence and not so much to those channels that have only the appeal of excellence!

by Ivana De Innocentis
Revised, corrected and expanded by the Tumn® Editorial Team