Region & History

Where does Birra Moretti come from? From Udine in Friuli. There, in 1859, Luigi Moretti opened a "Fabbrica di Birra e Ghiaccio," a brewery combined with an ice factory. Udine belonged to the Austrian Empire at the time. Bottom-fermented beer needs cool cellars, and anyone who could make ice had the right technology for the job.

Udine and Venetia only became part of Italy in 1866. In this wine-steeped landscape, beer never had it easy, since a glass of wine almost always accompanied a meal. Brewing continued nonetheless, and in 1897 the brothers Luigi, Sante, and Giovanni Luciani founded their own brewery in Pedavena.

Pedavena is a hamlet of Feltre in the province of Belluno, on the edge of the Dolomiti Bellunesi. The family expanded the business and even founded a technical school in Feltre, offering courses for brewers and maltsters. Later came a zoo, sports facilities, and an open-air theater.

In the 1970s the brewery hit a crisis, and in 1974 it was sold to Heineken. Moretti, too, has belonged to this conglomerate since 1996. Facing accusations of a dominant market position, Heineken had to give up a plant in Friuli, and in 1997 Birra Castello was born from it, headquartered in San Giorgio di Nogaro.

In January 2006, Castello also bought Pedavena, which Heineken had wanted to close. On April 4, 2006, the brewery started up again. The name Moretti remains tied to Friuli, but today it's brewed elsewhere, namely in Heineken plants in Assemini, Comun Nuovo, Massafra, and Pollein. There is no EU protected designation of origin for beer from Friuli or Venetia.