Top 10 Breweries in Italy
Italy arrived at craft beer in the 1990s with no industrial brewing tradition worth protecting and no cultural expectation that beer had to taste any particular way. That freedom was enormously productive. The brewers who emerged — many trained in Belgium, a few self-taught through obsessive home brewing — applied Italian culinary values (locality, seasonality, the relationship between food and fermented beverage) to a craft their country had never dominated. The result is a national scene unlike any other: Belgian-influenced in technique, French-influenced in gastronomy, and distinctly Italian in its insistence that beer can be as serious an accompaniment to food as wine. The most distinctive expression of this identity is the Italian Grape Ale, or IGA — a hybrid style created specifically to bridge the country's winemaking heritage with its brewing present, recognised as a distinct style by international competition bodies since around 2010.
1. Birrificio Italiano, Lombardy
Agostino Arioli founded Birrificio Italiano in Lurago Marinone in 1994, making it one of the oldest continuously operating craft breweries in the country. The flagship Tipopils — a dry, aromatic Italian interpretation of German pilsner with late-hopping and secondary fermentation that produces unusual delicacy — is one of the most discussed craft lagers in Europe. Amber Shock, Scires (a sour cherry ale), and the Cassissona (blackcurrant ale) show the range. Arioli's influence on Italian brewing is disproportionate to the brewery's modest size: almost every Italian brewer of his generation or the next cites him as a formative influence, and Tipopils has been a gold standard for craft pilsner internationally.
2. LoverBeer, Piedmont
Valter Loverier's small brewery in Marentino, near Turin, specialises in sour ales and wild fermentation with an emphasis on local fruit and wine culture. BeerBrugna (brewed with Ramassin plums from the Cuneo valleys), BeerBera (with Barbera grape must), and the d'UVA series — Italian Grape Ales made with different grape varieties — are the most celebrated releases. LoverBeer is among the most technically advanced sour producers in Italy and the d'UVA beers are benchmark examples of what the IGA style can achieve: the tannic grip and acidity of Italian wine meeting the carbonation and hop character of ale in a way that neither culture could produce alone. Production is very small; the releases trade quickly in the Italian specialist market.
3. Birrificio del Ducato, Emilia-Romagna
Giovanni Campari and his team in Roncole Verdi, birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi in the Po Valley, produce some of Italy's most balanced and internationally recognised craft beers. New Morning (a saison), Verdi Imperial Stout, and Via Emilia (a hoppy amber) are the flagships. Del Ducato was among the first Italian breweries to achieve significant distribution in the US and UK markets and has won medals at the World Beer Cup and European Beer Challenge. The brewery's Emilian identity — the region that gave the world Parma ham, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and balsamic vinegar — is explicit in the food-pairing philosophy that shapes its range.
4. Baladin, Piedmont
Teo Musso founded Le Baladin in Piozzo, Cuneo in 1996, initially as a pub inspired by Belgian brewing culture. Isaac (a witbier), Super Baladin (an amber strong ale), and Xyauyu (an oxidised barley wine, intended to age like a wine) are the most celebrated products. Musso has been more responsible than any other single figure for the international visibility of Italian craft beer: the bar in Turin, the Baladin concept pubs, and his advocacy for Italian beer as a gastronomic category comparable to wine have given the sector a public face. He also opened a production brewery and visitor space in Farigliano in 2010 that serves as a working demonstration of his ideas about terroir and locality in brewing.
5. Birra del Borgo, Lazio
Founded in Borgorose (from which the name) in 2005 by Leonardo Di Vincenzo, Birra del Borgo became one of Italy's most talked-about craft breweries before its acquisition by AB InBev in 2016. ReAle (an American pale ale using Italian ingredients), Ke To Reporter (a smoked beer), and the My Antonia continuous-hop double pilsner (a collaboration with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head) are the most noted beers. Post-acquisition quality has been maintained in the core range. The Rome taproom, Il Birrificio di Roma, is one of the better craft beer destinations in the capital.
6. Toccalmatto, Emilia-Romagna
Bruno Carilli's brewery in Fidenza, between Parma and Cremona, has been one of the most consistently excellent small Italian breweries since its founding in 2008. Zona Cesarini (a Belgian strong golden ale), Re Hop (an IPA), and the Strighel (a smoked porter) are the most recognised. Toccalmatto is unusual in Italian craft for its systematic approach to hop-forward styles: the Re Hop IPA was among the first Italian takes on American IPA to achieve genuine quality by the standards of the style's origin country. The Fidenza brewery and its taproom are worth a detour for anyone travelling the Via Emilia corridor.
7. Birrificio Lambrate, Lombardy
Founded in Milan in 1996 by the Sangiorgi brothers, Birrificio Lambrate is the oldest craft brewery in the city and among the oldest in Italy. The Ghisa (a smoked lager, the name meaning "cast iron" in Milanese dialect), Montestella (a pale ale), and the Rubus (a raspberry ale) are the core range. The Lambrate neighbourhood pub is one of Milan's most important beer destinations and helped establish the idea that craft beer could coexist with the city's aperitivo culture. The brewery has expanded its taproom network within Milan and its beers are a fixture at Italian craft beer festivals.
8. Birra Amiata, Tuscany
Founded on Monte Amiata, the volcanic massif in southern Tuscany, Birra Amiata uses spring water from the mountain and local malts to produce a range of ales that reflects the woodland and agricultural character of the area. Bastarda Rossa (a red ale with chestnut flour from the local harvest), Pirata (a porter), and the seasonal Marruca (chestnut honey ale) are the most distinctive products. Amiata is one of Italy's clearest examples of terroir-driven brewing: the chestnut flour and honey are ingredients specific to this corner of Tuscany and impossible to replicate elsewhere, and the resulting beers have a character that is genuinely local rather than stylistically derived.
9. Hammer, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Davide Bertinotti's brewery in Fagagna, Friuli, was founded in 2007 and has built a reputation for technically exacting lagers and a range of ales that reflects the border region's Central European and Italian influences. The Friulian pilsner is the flagship, using Friuli-grown hops (the region has a small but significant hop cultivation history) and Carnic Alpine spring water. The Radler and the Rauchbier (smoked lager) show the Germanic influence of this part of Italy. Hammer is less well known internationally than the Emilian and Piedmontese breweries but is among the most admired within the Italian craft community.
10. Birra Pintta, Piedmont
Alessandro Reale's brewery in Moretta, in the Po Plain south of Turin, was founded in 2008 and has become known for precise, restrained beers in the Belgian tradition. Bianca (a witbier), Blond (a golden ale), and the La Tuia IPA are the core range. Pintta is not the most experimental Italian brewery nor the most widely distributed, but it occupies a consistent position in the Italian craft hierarchy as a reliable producer of well-executed classic styles — a role that is harder to maintain than the irregular excellence of the more experimental producers.
The Italian Grape Ale
The IGA category covers beers in which grape must, grape juice, or grape marc (the skin and pulp after pressing) is added at some stage of production, creating a hybrid fermentation that results in beers with vinous character. The style has been formally recognised in Italian beer competitions since around 2010 and by the Brewers Association (US) in its competition guidelines. The grape variety, origin, and addition method vary enormously — some producers use Nebbiolo, some use Moscato, some add at primary fermentation and some post-fermentation. LoverBeer and Baladin are the most internationally visible IGA producers, but dozens of Italian breweries now produce at least one expression. For anyone interested in understanding what Italian craft brewing has contributed to global beer culture, the IGA is the style to seek out. The map shows brewery locations across Italy's brewing regions.