Fine Tastes of Modena

The farm's owner, a nobleman, lived in an elegant manor in the center of Modena and one day asked Giuseppe to bring him firewood and fagots for the upcoming winter. Giuseppe arrived at the manor with his cart where the landlord was waiting. The landlord had Giuseppe bring in the load of wood and told him to be careful not to scratch the plaster with the bundle of fagots. Unfortunately or fortunately, this is exactly what happened. A piece of plaster came off the wall and Giuseppe sees three numbers written underneath. He decided to play those numbers in the lottery which he won enough to buy two farms and three houses. Two of the houses were used for the farms while the third, an outbuilding of the Benedettini convent from the end of the 1400's, was converted into an "osteria" (tavern).
Giuseppe immediately obtained a license to serve food and offered horse boarding services. Giuseppe's osteria soon became a point of reference and meeting place for cart-drivers and travelers.

The farms began producing wine which has been handed down from generation to generation even until today. The osteria offered Marsala wine from Sicily and German beer. When the "botte" (barrels) of wine and beer were empty, Giuseppe decided to start using them for making balsamic vinegar instead of throwing them away. The series of barrels "batteria" used by Giuseppe were of two types of wood. The barrels of Marsala were smaller and thinner and made from chestnut while the beer barrels made from oak were bigger and thicker. The production went on from 1862 through 1890. These were difficult years in Italy with infectious diseases hitting hard on the population resulting in many deaths, including Giuseppe's son Claudio. Despite his old age, Giuseppe continued with his osteria and farms until his death.

Giuseppe's grandson Cesare continued the family business and increased the production of wine and balsamic vinegar using the old "botte" he inherited from his grandfather. The osteria remained untouched during the Great War and increased its number of "botte". With the arrival of Word War II, Cesare's son Giuseppe II helped his father with the operation of the osteria and production of wine and balsamic vinegar until Cesare's death. Giuseppe II died shortly there after in 1944.
In 1945 Giuseppe II's widow, mother and sister along with his 10 year old son Italo continued with the production of wine and balsamic vinegar and running the osteria the best they could.

Years passed without further increases in the production of wine and balsamic vinegar, until 1963 when Italo took over the family business with his wife Franca Prampolini. He takes care of his forefathers barrels which are well over a hundred years old. The old country plantations are disappearing; but Italo understands the importance of preserving the two traditional vineyards: the Trebbiano di Spagna and the Ruggine Grape. Both have an optimal aroma and sugar content. These types of vineyards produce quality, not quantity which is a reason why many wine makers do not use them.
Italo feeds both the new and old batteries with the two types of vineyards his grandfather Cesare had planted. This choice has won many awards for the Pedroni family in the only competition for Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena existing in the Province of Modena: "Il Palio of San Giovanni" held in Spilamberto.
Since 1997, the farm and production of balsamic vinegar are managed by Giuseppe III, continuing six generations of Pedroni family tradition.

The Pedroni family has won "Il Palio di San Giovanni" for their Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1990 and have been in the top 12 for 18 times. At the exhibition Gusto Balsamico in 2007, the Pedroni family put up for auction "Giuseppe I" which sold for Euro 1800. At the Brussels World Competition in 2009, the Pedroni family won the prestigious "Gran Medaglia d'Oro", beating out distilleries from 32 different countries for their "grappa invecchiata Pedroni".

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