My first trip to Italy back in 1969...

My family came to America in 1903....or my grandfather did. He worked for a few years to make enough money to bring his family here... in 1913 he bought the land my home sits on now and built our 'homestead'. From 1913 until 1969 no one in my family, (and I have a huge family), had returned to Italy and almost all contact with family back in Italy was lost... or nearly so. One aunt kept in contact occasionally.

In 1969 me and two cousins traveled to Italy and met family. We were greeted as 'Royalty'. I think they fed us everything they had.

So to point - one of our distant relatives took us to his home where his most prized possession was his Liqueur collection... and impressive it was. One wall from floor to ceiling of every colored bottle you can imagine.... and then proceeded to make us take a sip from I think ALL of them.

I remember the first hour of the tasting session... after that it became a blur and then pretty much a black-out. If it grows the Italians found a way to make it into a liqueur. Most of it was delicious... some of it was horrible.

The moral of this story... if you imbibe in liqueur's too much the wrath of God will descend on you and smite thee.

Since that trip to Italy I have overdid it with alcohol many times... but never with liqueur's. I learned my lesson well. - JamesJM