F.LLI FLORIO: IGNAZIO Jr. – VINCENZO Jr.
In 1891, the Florio family business was passed on to Ignazio Jr, the third generation of Florios, who found himself in charge of the huge fortune that he and his younger brother Vincenzo had inherited, which comprised multiple complex activities.
A combination of factors, including the dispute on custom tariffs (1887), the closing down of the French market (1888), the old agricultural system, the lack of local infrastructures, fierce competition with the use of unfair practices from the new emerging wine making companies and tax fraud, all had an impact on “Marsala” wine exports, as did the devastating phylloxera louse in 1893, which decimated vineyards marking the start of the decline of the Florio business.
In 1899, to address these common issues the Sicilian Agricultural Consortium was established and Ignazio Florio Jr became its president “with the ambitious … project of reforming the Sicilian agricultural system…”. Unfortunately, due to the deep agricultural crisis and the poverty of the rural population it didn’t produce the results hoped for.
During the crisis, “… Casa Florio strived to put in place an adequate strategy…” trying “… to focus on projects that met the new market trends and latest fashions, diversifying production and limiting risks…”. In 1892, when faced with the first difficulties, under the management of French oenologist G. Lamènery, from the school of Bordeaux, “Casa Florio” produced new types of “Marsala” wine.
Thanks to the new initiatives, at the end of the 19th century, the Florio business led once again the Marsala wine production and sale industry.
While lifestyle choices had an impact on finances, family bereavements induced the “Florio Family” to take a step back from the “Marsala” business, leaving the rains of the company in the hands of managers who were able to continue working with profit.
In 1904, in response to the crisis, brothers Ignazio and Vincenzo Jr established S.A.V.I. (Società Anonima Vinicola Italiana, the Anonymous Italian Wine Company) with new local partners. In 1907, the company moved under the control of “Distillerie Italiane” based in Milan.
In 1924, oppressed by financial difficulties and distracted by family misfortunes, Ignazio Jr sold the company to “Cinzano”, a group from Turin, which in 1929 incorporated it in the other two it had previously acquired (“Woodhouse” and “Ingham-Whitaker”) creating “S.A.V.I. Florio, Ingham/Whitaker, Woodhouse & C.” with head office in Turin and production plants and operations in Marsala.
Thanks to its structure and knowledge of national and international markets, “Cinzano” produced “Marsala” under the four brands and their varieties,
selling the wine only by the bottle, and started advertising. The strategy was a success and shifted the business in the hands of the entrepreneurs in the north of Italy.
On 11 May 1943, the Florio production plant was bombed by the Anglo-American allies and most of the facilities were destroyed leading to financial ruin. In 1988, it was sold to “Illva Saronno”.