UDINE. If you call her a “grappa influencer” she smiles, “but they also called me Piero Angela,” she confesses. Francesca Bardelli Nonino, 31, sixth generation of the Udinese dynasty of distillers – the founder, in 1897, was her great-grandfather Orazio Nonino – has combined alpha and omega, the tradition of an ancient product (“don’t call it old, only the perception of it is old », he says) with the modernity of social communication made of videos in the grandmother’s garden, recipes for grappa-based cocktails, special effects and stills that“ explode ”.
And the boom is that of contacts: from March to today it has more than tripled them, from 9 to 27 thousand, on Linkedin, a platform that seems ideal – better than Instagram, where it also has over seven thousand followers – to enhance this mix between the recognizability of a historical brand and the imprint of freshness and vitality that Francesca releases.
The story of Nonino, over 120 years impossible to distil in a few lines, is however very feminine, with Silvia Milocco Nonino (Francesca’s great-grandmother) and Giannola Bulfoni Nonino (grandmother) protagonists in the last century of the growth of a brand that is today recognized as world excellence and 12.9 million euro turnover.
Francesca, was it natural for you to decide to work in the family business?
«There is a photo of me, as a child, in my grandmother’s house to indicate the bottles of grappa: I was born and raised there. I understood that it was not just a job but a life mission. The passion has been handed down from generation to generation, I am Nonino’s number one fan, I love our products, I am in love with their history, proud of the quality and values they represent ».
How did you start in the company before becoming the influencer of grappa?
«I gladly accept it as a definition – he laughs – this role arises by chance. I joined the company in 2016 doing apprenticeships, “stopgaps” in events and fairs. After my studies in the financial field, I gave space to my passion for communicating: I saw that the management of Nonino’s social channels could be followed in a different way, with more heart. I studied, continued to travel and learn. And then the pandemic arrived ».
And it changed everything.
“We could no longer travel. I started directing on Instagram, I had to find a way to communicate that Nonino is still there. The turning point was an online masterclass with tasting kit at home, immediately 80 contacts: I made a video to celebrate and it went viral. It was October 2020. From there the boom ».
Does this social success translate into new customers?
«We have certainly intercepted new fans. There has been a rediscovery for grappa, also driven by the victory as the best distillery in the world, the first and only Italian company to obtain it, awarded in January 2020 ».
Goals to achieve?
«The transparency of the grappa label: the distinction between artisanal and industrial distilleries is not clear. I want every Italian to know how to choose grappa with awareness, and to protect the Italian distillate par excellence. Grappa is the ambassador of Italian culture in the world, it is our history ». –
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