The juniper berries trade, a business we discovered has been part of the Dòmini family since 1850.
Family archives and albums reveal the figure of our great-great-grandfather, Ercole Dòmini: a juniper berry merchant active in the Tuscan countryside during the 19th century.
His name (undoubtedly evocative) conveyed trust and competence, and perhaps rightly so; the image shows a serious, energetic man in a dark suit, sporting an authoritative mustache.
His relaxed yet composed posture on the chair seemed to guard the warehouse behind him, where the sturdy wooden door and worn stone steps are clearly visible.
That warehouse was a treasure trove. It was said to be filled with juniper berries, dried iris roots, fox pelts, wildflower honey, and who knows what other rural products—all purchased from farmers and ready for resale.
This trade provided Ercole with the means to support his entire family, fueled by the hope that his son, Anselmo, might one day escape the grueling labor and arduous journeys along rough roads required to transport heavy goods. Anselmo would go on to become a senior clerk at the Siena Post Office.
Records indicate that Ercole’s trading territory was extensive, stretching from the Tuscan Apennines to the Chianti region and even reaching Cortona (our family’s place of origin). In 19th-century Tuscany, the “mezzadria” (sharecropping) system meant that farmers had to contend with poverty on a daily basis.
Each family made the most of whatever resources they could: gathering juniper berries in the woods, cultivating Iris Pallida for its prized root, and selling beeswax, honey, eggs, and fox and rabbit pelts. It was a subsistence economy where a local trader, known as a treccone, would arrive from afar, bringing hope, money, and news.
The remains of Ercole Dòmini, along with those of Anselmo, now rest in Siena at the Monumental Cemetery of the Misericordia.