The Bar Journal

VOV was invented in 1845 by Gian Battista Pezziol, a confectioner of Padova specialized in the production of nougat, which required just the egg whites. Pezziol decided to use the remaining egg yolks with marsala wine, alcohol and sugar, to make a kind of zabaione liqueur and energy drink tonic much in vogue at that time.
The Venetian dialect word “vovi” (= eggs) was shortened in the famous palindrome monosyllable VOV still used to describe the product.
In 1856, the commercial success of the new liquor was already remarkable and Pezziol received a silver medal for the quality of the drink. The same year VOV was presented to the court of Vienna (Veneto region and Padova was at the time part of the Austrian kingdom), where the Archduke gratly appreciated it and issued a solemn patent with the royal double-headed eagle.

During the Second World War, for its energizing properties VOV was provided to the troops engaged in combat with the name of VAV2 (Vino Alimento Vigoroso = Wine Vigorous Food).The drink reached its peak at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, when it had numerous imitations and competitors but during the 1980s and 90s, due to the strong xenophilia in young people’s eating habits, and the arrival of the first foreign carbonated energy drinks, VOV experienced a period of decline. However, it survived thanks to the ever present demand in bars and pubs of winter sports resorts.
In recent years VOV has met a revival thanks to a cocktail, the “bombarding”, brandy, single cream, VOV and coffee; it is fashionable again, especially on the ski slopes, and the general tendency to re-evaluate the historical food and drinks of the Italian tradition.

SALUTE!

GIUSEPPE GALLO