Strega is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

al liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

 produced since 1860 by the S. A. Distilleria Liquore Strega in Benevento

Benevento

Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...

, Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Its yellow color comes from the presence of saffron

Saffron

Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...

 in its recipe

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...

. Liquore Strega is 80 proof (40%) and among its approximately 70 herbal ingredient

Ingredient

An ingredient is a substance that forms part of a mixture . For example, in cooking, recipes specify which ingredients are used to prepare a specific dish. Many commercial products contain a secret ingredient that is purported to make them better than competing products...

s are mint

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

 and fennel

Fennel

Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...

. Strega is considered a digestif, meant for drinking after meals.

Strega has a similar appearance to Galliano

Galliano (drink)

Liquore Galliano L'Autentico, known more commonly as Galliano, is a sweet herbal liqueur, created in 1896 by Italian distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, Tuscany. Vaccari named the spirit after Giuseppe Galliano, an Italian hero of the First Italo–Ethiopian War at the end of...

 (though less vibrantly yellow). It is slightly sweet, semi-viscous, and has a bold, complex flavor with strong minty or coniferous notes. Strega is used for flavoring torta caprese

Torta caprese

Torta caprese is a traditional Italian chocolate and almond or walnut cake named for the island of Capri from which it originates. As it is made without flour, it may be eaten by individuals following a gluten-free diet, such as those with coeliac disease....

, a type of cake.

The name

Strega is the Italian word for "witch" and since legends of witchcraft at Benevento date back to the time of the Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 invasion, it was a natural choice of name for the liqueur. The liqueur is sometimes called "the witch" in the English-speaking world.

The prize

The Premio Strega

Strega Prize

The Strega Prize is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction by an Italian author and first published between 1 May of the previous year and 30 April...

 (Strega Prize), the most prestigious literary award in Italy today, was founded in 1947 by Guido Alberti

Guido Alberti

Guido Alberti was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1963 and 1993.-Selected filmography:* Not on Your Life * Hands Over the City * Angélique, Marquise des Anges...

, then owner of the company, together with his friends the writer Maria Bellonci and her husband Goffredo.

Reviews

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition--one of several international spirit ratings

Spirit ratings

With a growing number of microdistilleries and an expanding number of offerings from large corporate entities, a number of institutions have arisen to provide professional evaluations of individual spirits...

 organizations--has evaluated Strega on three occasions since 2005. The ratings organization gave the spirit gold medals in 2005 and 2011 and a silver medal in 2008.

Popular culture references

In the 1963 novel Inside Mr. Enderby

Inside Mr. Enderby

Inside Mr Enderby is the first volume of the Enderby series, a quartet of comic novels by the British author Anthony Burgess.The book was first published in 1963 in London by William Heinemann under the pseudonym Joseph Kell. The series which began with the publication, in 1963, of Inside Mr...

, the main character Mr. Enderby and Rawcliff, another poet, drink Strega at a hotel bar in Rome while Enderby is on his honeymoon.

On numerous occasions in the 1969 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 The Godfather

The Godfather (novel)

The Godfather is a crime novel written by Italian American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia...

by Mario Puzo

Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, including The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola...

, Don Vito Corleone and his colleagues drink Strega.

On Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

, the villain Stefano DiMera

Stefano DiMera

Stefano DiMera is a fictional character, a villain on the American soap opera Days of our Lives. Created by head writer Pat Falken Smith, he is portrayed by Joseph Mascolo...

 drinks Strega.

In the play Night Letters the character Antonietta drinks heavily from a bottle of Strega in one scene.

In the 2001 film Made

Made (2001 film)

Made is a 2001 film written and directed by Jon Favreau. It stars Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Peter Falk, and Sean Combs.-Plot:Bobby has ties to the local mafia boss, Max, but works as an honest mason for Max's construction projects. He fights in amateur boxing matches on the side, but his career is...

, directed by Jon Favreau

Jon Favreau

Jonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...

 and starring Favreau and Vince Vaughn

Vince Vaughn

Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...

, Vaughn's character (Ricky) orders a Strega in an Italian restaurant, only to be rebuffed by Sean P Diddy Combs's mob boss character (Ruiz) with the line "You having the witch after dinner? No class!" The waiter agrees with Ruiz that Strega is an apéritif

Aperitif

Apéritifs and digestifs are alcoholic drinks that are normally served with meals.-Apéritifs:An apéritif is usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite. This contrasts with digestifs, which are served after a meal for the purpose of aiding digestion...

. However, the waiter and Ruiz are wrong.

In Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway concerning events during the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The book, which was first published in 1929, is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant in the ambulance...

, Henry often drinks Strega while serving in the Italian military. However, he becomes sick of it and moves on to other liquor.

In the 1940 film Kitty Foyle

Kitty Foyle (film)

Kitty Foyle, subtitled The Natural History of a Woman, is a 1940 film starring Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Ernest Cossart and Gladys Cooper.-Plot:...

, Kitty and her lover always order Strega when they meet.

In Raymond Carver's short story, Distance, the protagonist and his daughter drink Strega while he recounts a story about when she was a baby.

In Robertson Davies' novel, "The Rebel Angels

The Rebel Angels

The Rebel Angels is Canadian author Robertson Davies's most noted novel, after those that form his Deptford Trilogy.First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1981, The Rebel Angels is the first of the three connected novels of Davies' Cornish Trilogy...

", Dr. Parlabane drinks Strega at dinner with a graduate student, Maria Magdelana Theotoky.

In his poem "The Day Lady Died," Frank O'Hara

Frank O'Hara

Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.-Life:...

 mentions walking into the Park Lane Liquor Store to purchase a bottle of Strega for Mike.

In the 1962 film Rome Adventure

Rome Adventure

Rome Adventure, also known as Lovers Must Learn, is a 1962 romantic drama film, based on Irving Fineman's novel. It was directed by Delmer Daves and stars Troy Donahue, Angie Dickenson, and Suzanne Pleshette.-Plot:...

, Don and Prudence drink Strega. Prudence says that she feels "particularly golden".

In the 2000 novel "Worst Fears Realized" by Stuart Woods, the characters of Stone Barrington and Eduardo and Dolce Bianchi drink Strega on a few separate occasions.

In the 1969 novel "Venus With Pistol" by Gavin Lyall, the character Gilbert Kemp drinks Strega in Venice.