Top 10 Distilleries in the Veneto
If grappa has a homeland, it is the Veneto. The very name comes from the town of Bassano del Grappa, huddled at the foot of the Monte Grappa massif where the Brenta river spills out of the Dolomites. Here, beside a wooden covered bridge designed by Palladio, the Nardini family has been distilling since 1779 — making it one of the oldest distilleries in Italy. Over two centuries the Veneto transformed grappa from a rough peasant spirit into a refined, single-variety craft, and the region still accounts for a huge share of Italy's finest bottlings. The arc of distilling stretches from the foothills of the Asiago plateau down through the vine-covered Treviso plain to the lagoon edge near Venice, taking in three of Italy's most famous wine zones — Prosecco, Soave and Valpolicella — along the way. These ten houses map the Veneto from the Grappa massif to the Prosecco hills and the Euganean plain.
1. Nardini, Bassano del Grappa
Nardini, founded in 1779 at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio (the Ponte degli Alpini), is the oldest grappa distillery in Italy and the spiritual home of the spirit. Its bottles in their distinctive shapes — the Bianca, the Riserva, the Acqua di Cedro and Ginepro liqueurs — are sold across the country, and the historic grapperia at the bridgehead is a Bassano institution where locals still take a morning mezzo e mezzo. The wooden bridge it overlooks was rebuilt to Palladio's sixteenth-century design after being destroyed in both world wars, and the two yellow buildings of the Nardini bar flanking its eastern end have served drinkers continuously since the eighteenth century.
2. Poli Distillerie, Schiavon (near Bassano)
The Poli family has distilled near Bassano since 1898, using small artisanal copper bain-marie and steam stills. Poli is one of the most internationally visible Veneto houses, with a wide range of single-variety grappe and an excellent grappa museum (the Poli Grappa Museum) in central Bassano that tells the whole history of Italian distilling. The bain-marie method, in which the pomace is heated indirectly in a copper jacket of hot water rather than over direct flame, protects the delicate aromas and is a hallmark of the gentle Veneto approach.
3. Jacopo Poli and the artisan tradition
Under Jacopo Poli the family firm became a reference for elegant, aromatic grappa, distilled from fresh pomace transported quickly from the surrounding Vicenza and Treviso vineyards. The Sarpa di Poli and the barrique-aged expressions are textbook examples of the modern, refined Veneto style that moved grappa onto fine-dining tables. Speed matters here: pomace begins to oxidise within hours of pressing, so the freshest, most fragrant grappa comes from skins distilled the same day they leave the winery, and Poli's proximity to the Breganze and Vicenza vineyards makes that possible.
4. Bonollo, Mestrino (Padua)
The Bonollo family runs two of Italy's most important grappa operations; the Veneto branch near Padua is famous for the Of Amarone Barrique grappa, distilled from the pomace of Amarone della Valpolicella and aged in oak. It is among the most awarded and best-selling premium grappe in Italy and a benchmark for the rich, wood-aged style. Because Amarone grapes are themselves dried for three or four months before fermentation, their pomace is unusually concentrated, and the resulting grappa shows notes of dried cherry, fig and sweet spice deepened by years in barrique.
5. Distilleria Maschio (Bonollo Umberto), Gaiarine (Treviso)
Maschio, in the Prosecco country of Treviso, is one of the largest grappa producers in the Veneto, drawing on the vast pomace supply of the Prosecco hills. The Prime Uve range and the classic Maschio bottlings are widely distributed, and the distillery is a key part of the spirit's industrial backbone. Gaiarine lies on the flat Treviso plain east of Conegliano, surrounded by the Glera vineyards that supply Prosecco DOC, which means a near-endless stream of fresh white pomace arrives at the stills each harvest.
6. Distilleria Andrea Da Ponte, Conegliano (Treviso)
Da Ponte, founded in 1892 in the heart of the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco zone, distils the Vecchia Grappa Da Ponte from the pomace of the local Glera grape. The long oak ageing gives it an amber colour and a smoothness that made it one of the classic aged grappe of the Prosecco hills. Conegliano is home to Italy's oldest oenological school, founded in 1876, and Da Ponte sits at the eastern gateway to the steep, hand-worked Valdobbiadene vineyards that earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 2019.
7. Marzadro influence and the Brenta valley
Although Marzadro itself sits just over the border in Trentino, the upper Brenta and the valleys feeding into Bassano share a single grappa culture. The mountain microclimate of the Valsugana, the cold winters and the tradition of small alembic stills shaped the whole northern Veneto approach to distilling fresh, aromatic pomace quickly after the harvest. The Brenta carries cold alpine air down from the Dolomites into the valley, and the historic Valstagna tobacco terraces and the gorge of the Canale di Brenta form the dramatic backdrop to this stretch of grappa country.
8. Grappa di Amarone from the Valpolicella
The Valpolicella hills north of Verona, home of Amarone and Recioto, produce some of Italy's most prized pomace. The grapes used for Amarone are dried for months before pressing, concentrating their sugars and aromas, and the grappa distilled from that pomace — bottled by Bonollo and several Valpolicella estates — carries a depth of dried-fruit richness unmatched elsewhere.
9. Capovilla Distillati, Rosà (near Bassano)
Vittorio Capovilla is the Veneto's cult artisan, distilling not only grappa but extraordinary fruit eaux-de-vie from local apples, pears, plums and cherries in tiny batches. He ferments whole fruit slowly at low temperatures and distils in small wood-fired Müller copper alembics, discarding generous heads and tails to keep only the purest heart of the run. His meticulous, low-yield approach and his refusal to compromise made Capovilla a name spoken with reverence among spirits enthusiasts across Europe, and his fruit brandies regularly stand among the finest eaux-de-vie made anywhere outside Alsace.
10. Distillerie of the Euganean Hills (Padua)
South of Padua, the volcanic Colli Euganei produce both wine and a small grappa tradition. Estate distillers around towns like Arquà Petrarca and Vò turn local Moscato and red pomace into fragrant grappe, rounding out the Veneto picture with a softer, hill-country style far from the alpine north.
The Veneto in context
No region is more central to Italian grappa than the Veneto. It gave the spirit its name, its oldest distillery, and the refined single-variety philosophy that lifted grappa out of the farmhouse and onto the world's fine-dining tables. From the Nardini bar at the Palladian bridge to the Amarone grappa of the Valpolicella and the Prosecco-pomace houses of Treviso, the Veneto offers the most complete grappa tour in Italy — and the museums of Bassano make it the place to understand the spirit's whole history.
Explore on the map
Use the interactive map to plan a Veneto grappa route, from Bassano del Grappa and its Palladian bridge through the Prosecco hills of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene to the Amarone country of Valpolicella and the Euganean Hills near Padua. Open the map to see how the distilleries cluster around the vineyards, and find the Veneto on the map to trace the spirit back to its birthplace.