Italo Risi began testing his first herbal liqueur recipes in his grandfather's garage at age 21, using plants he had learned to identify as a child in the Matese mountains of Italy. In 2024 he founded Matese Officinale, a company based in Bojano, in the province of Campobasso.
Risi, who was born in 1999 in Bojano, traced the origins of the business to family outings in the Matese mountains, where he gathered wild herbs used at home for infusions offered to visitors and for kitchen spices, he told the Italian outlet Gambero Rosso.
After finishing secondary school he worked in other fields, but feeling disconnected from what really interested him led him to train as an herborist and cosmetologist. He spent years travelling the Matese to survey and get to know the area's wild plant species.
He said he had always wanted to build something of his own since he was a child, something that could express his passion and his wish to give value to the region. He said that at 21 he thought starting a company would be very complicated, but Matese Officinale was born anyway in 2024.
A family team and a network of collectors
From the start, the project has run as a family business. Risi's mother handles administration and sales, while his father joins him in harvesting herbs and developing new products. Risi said he was glad to have stayed, while many people his age have been forced to leave.
According to Gambero Rosso, a network of collectors, nursery growers and local farmers has formed around Matese Officinale. About 70% of the raw material comes from wild harvesting, and the remaining 30% from cultivated native plants. That structure has allowed production to grow beyond the region.
Two liqueurs and the rescue of a historic oregano
The first product to come out of the garage was Amaro Quirino, a liqueur made with more than 80 wild herbs Risi had mapped during his surveys. He said those were the herbs he catalogued to launch the company, and that he wanted to create a product that spoke both to his early journey and to the taste of the land.
That product was followed by Licor Matese, an aperitif made from wild berries, prugnolo (blackthorn), rosehip, elderberry, blackberries and raspberries, which adds fruity notes to the herbal profile of Quirino.
Alongside the liqueurs, the company sells honey and herbal teas. One of its most recent projects focuses on reviving Campochiaro oregano, a variety that once supported many families in that municipality.
