FIRST JOURNEYS - EUROPEAN EXPEDITION- PIN 20 OF 40
DOLCE VITA GIN - Targa Ilva - Veneto, Italy
A ROAD TRIP WHERE EVERY STOP HAS A STORY
La Dolce Vita—the sweet life.
Sometimes the best stories behind a bottle don’t start with a recipe—they start with a memory.
Today’s stop takes me to Padua, just outside Venice, and the home of Dolce Vita Gin, created by Targa Ilva and inspired by one family’s lifelong love affair with Italy.
During the golden era of La Dolce Vita in the 1950s, a cocktail called the Cardinale became fashionable in Italy. The original versions were made with gin, Campari and dry white wine, later evolving into the more familiar combination of gin, dry vermouth and Campari. It seemed only fitting, therefore, that my Italian stop should feature a gin carrying the name of Italy’s most famous expression of the good life.
The story behind Dolce Vita begins in 1932, when 14-year-old Emo travelled with his family to Sicily for their summer holiday. During a stop in Naples, he met a young girl from Capri and the two struck up a friendship. They arranged to meet again the following day in Capri’s famous Piazza Umberto, beneath the clock tower, and spent the next three days together before Emo continued his journey.
Those brief moments clearly left a lasting impression. The aromas of citrus, herbs, flowers and the Mediterranean landscape stayed with him throughout his life and became a passion he later shared with his own family.
Like many family stories passed down through generations, the details become a little blurred.
Different versions of the story appear across company histories, and the timeline is not always easy to reconcile. But perhaps that is part of the magic. Whether every detail can be perfectly proven or not, the inspiration behind Dolce Vita is clear—a celebration of Italy, of summer memories and of the scents and flavours that make the Mediterranean so captivating.
The Bagnoli family established their distillery in 1954, initially producing grappa before expanding into other spirits. Today, Targa Ilva continues that tradition, creating products inspired by Italian heritage and craftsmanship.
Dolce Vita Gin is a beautiful tribute to that philosophy. The sea-blue bottle immediately evokes the Mediterranean, while the label incorporates the clock tower of Piazza Umberto—a reminder of that life-changing meeting in Capri.
Inside is a delicately perfumed gin designed to capture the essence of southern Italy, with bright citrus, aromatic botanicals and the gentle elegance associated with the Italian way of life.
One teenage holiday, three afternoons in a piazza, and the scents of the Mediterranean became a bottle of gin decades later.
My serve today is a classic Cardinale, bringing the story full circle.
Cardinale
50ml Dolce Vita Gin
40ml Dry Vermouth
20ml Campari
Lemon peel garnish
Stir with ice until chilled and strain into a chilled glass.
A simple cocktail, but one that feels perfectly suited to a gin inspired by memories, Mediterranean sunshine and the moments that stay with us long after the holiday ends.
"Show me a bottle and I’ll tell you a story."