The twofold path of the last European empire. How Italy reacted to globalization and new alcohol-related trends.

Colonial empires created, in the long run, new alcoholic paradigms, as they promoted the exchange of alcoholic drinks between different parts of the world, as well as the more general spread of many and various foodstuffs and cooking habits. The largest colonial empires, such as the British and French ones, had already been established all through the Modern Era, whilst Italian colonialism only arose towards the end of the 19th century, spilling over into the 20th. This chronological gap caused beverages to be traded at different times, which is why rhum, for example, had already reached most European customers in the early Modern period. At the time Italy had not attained national unity yet, but it was split in several smaller States; nevertheless, Italians had been able to enjoy the products of Atlantic trade since the 18th century, and rhum had soon penetrated Italian markets and culture. However, trade did not unidirectionally flow from the colonies to Europe or North America, but also in the opposite direction. Italian imperialism, albeit more recent, played an important role in the diffusion of typical Italian drinks in other continents, especially in Africa. Fascist imperialism's autarchic model promoted the creation of distilleries in its dominions, in contrast to other colonial empires, which privileged the export of beverages produced in the occupying country. Drinks such as Italian vermouth and Fernet were very popular in East Africa and were soon imitated in the colonies, to the extent of becoming typical products of local tradition (like in Eritrea), up to the present time. Our article aims at highlighting – by investigating the Italian case – how European empires represented a crucial factor in the formation of these new alcoholic paradigms at a global level.