Friuli Venezia Giulia is renowned for its wine production, but this should not overshadow its beer tradition. Historically connected to Middle Europe – where a strong brewing tradition has endured, from Germany with its approximately 1,500 breweries and 6,000 brands, to the Czech Republic – the region has, in fact, a close relationship with beer, which in Italy was considered a niche drink until the mid-19th century.

With industrialization, things changed, leading to the birth of actual breweries – in many cases founded by foreign entrepreneurs, particularly from Mitteleuropean regions where beer was part of a deep-rooted local tradition and consumed regularly. These breweries allowed beer to spread; it was in the 1800s that several of the beer brands still in existence today were founded – sometimes only as brands, acquired by larger groups or multinational companies – including those that originated in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

One of the earliest examples is the “Beer and Ice Factory” of Luigi Moretti in Udine, founded in 1859, which would later become famous as Birra Moretti, distributed nationally from 1990 and now exported internationally. A few years later, in 1865, the “First Brewery Company in Trieste” was established by technicians and financiers, including Pasquale Revoltella and Elio de Morpurgo, who faced market difficulties before it was liquidated in 1868. The Viennese Anton Dreher took over, imposing his brand: after the Dreher family’s extinction, the company name remained, and in 1928, it was passed to the Luciani family from Pedavena. In 1881, the Dormisch Brewery was founded by entrepreneur Francesco Dormisch in the icehouse of Resiutta, at the foot of the Carnic Alps in the province of Udine; in the aftermath of World War I, Dormisch was also exported abroad, though the brand would later experience ups and downs before eventually closing.

Today, alongside well-established brands, there are many small and medium-sized craft breweries that are building a new chapter in the history of beer in Friuli Venezia Giulia, as in the rest of Europe, where genuine, niche products – from organic varieties to those that revive ancient brewing and fermentation methods, featuring the most unusual ingredients and flavors – are showing great vitality in the sector. An opportunity for beer experts, enthusiasts, and curious visitors to explore the fascinating world of craft beers will be Birra in Fiera 2025, a fair scheduled to take place at the Generali Convention Center in Trieste from May 31 to June 2.