Pesaro 2024 – Strega

Mentioned in Norman Lewis, Naples ’44:

“One of the few buildings of note spared by the American bombing was the Strega factory, where one can buy a bottle of amber-coloured, aromatic liqueur for the reasonable sum of 100 lire, plus one pound of sugar. It turned out that the Canadians carried even a supply of sugar in their Dodge, so earlier in the day we had gone over to the factory and bought a dozen bottles. With these a housewarming took place at the farmhouse tonight, and the Canadians, instantly drunk on the strong, sticky liquor, stripped off their clothes and went dancing and singing out of the house and down the hillside among the bushes and the fireflies - an unearthly and even poetic sight.”

“They have run out of whisky, and I have some misgivings about the sweet and ensnaring Strega. This they drink by the tumblerful, even for breakfast, after which, buckling on their guns, they go staggering off in search of adventure.”

“The Canadians, laden with weaponry and Strega, were jubilantly excited, the Carabinieri nervously resigned, the British MPs inscrutably correct. A heterogeneous force, but alas with no one in control.”