The story of Padre Peppe begins at the end of the 18th century, when the Capuchin friar, Father Giuseppe Ronchi, retired to Apulia with the desire to discover in the Murgia, in its woods, its meadows, its waters and its rocks, a remedy that could soothe or heal the troubles and infirmities that everyday life brings. Following the monastic tradition, he led his life trying to help everyone to regain the global balance of the organism: mind, soul and body. In Apulia, he found a way to extract medicinal juices from herbs and fruits, extracts which were worked with dedication in the monastery workshop, where the monk could experiment with their therapeutic action for the relief of monks and faithful.

As time went by, a serious problem began to beset the ‘apothecary’ friar (as the ‘apothecary’ friars who worked and cured with spices were called): preserving and keeping the preparations intact until they were used. He tried to preserve many useful spices, herbs and fruits for his medicines and thus, over time, perfected an extract of healing and well-being.

Tradition has it that women’s hands pick the unripe walnuts to be used for the magic liqueur… barefoot, dancing around the tree to ensure the vitality of the plant and of those who will taste its flavour… because everything takes place during the shortest night of the year, when light wins over darkness. Even today, on the shortest night of the year, walnuts are harvested while still green and unripe. They are processed and stored for 4 years in old oak barrels, releasing for the most discerning palates the unmistakable taste – always the same – for more than 200 years.. It retains its mahogany colour and the scent of walnuts and wild undergrowth herbs. Over the years, the Striccoli family has carefully preserved the handbook compiled by the monk, pages written by the monk that explain and codify all the preparations in the monastery workshop and among them all the stages of production of the precious elixir.