Dalmatia is a stretch of land and islands 600km long, on the eastern shores of the Adriatic sea. Zara was the Venetian capital of Dalmatia for 400 years, and when the Republic fell, first Napoleon's France and later Austria ruled the region. GIROLAMO LUXARDO, sent there as consular representative of the Kingdom of Sardinia, moved to Zara with his family in 1817. His wife Maria Canevari became especially interested in perfecting "ROSOLIO MARASCHINO", a liqueur produced in Dalmatia since medieval times and often made in convents. Girolamo founded his distillery in 1821 to make the liqueur and, after 8 years of research in perfecting it, he obtained an exclusive "Privilege" from the Emperor of Austria, a valuable and cherished acknowledgment of the superior quality of the Luxardo product. Today the firm proudly continues bearing the denomination of "PRIVILEGIATA FABBRICA MARASCHINO EXCELSIOR".