Distillers Italy
A one-page guide to Italy for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Rome
- Official languages
- Italian
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Time zone
- UTC+1 (UTC+2 in summer)
- Area
- 301,340 km²
People
- Population
- 58.9 million (2025)
- Population growth
- -0.1% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 69.7%
- Aged under 15
- 11.7%
- Aged 65 and over
- 25.1%
- Life expectancy
- 84.0 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$2.55 trillion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$43,270 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 0.5% (2025)
- Inflation
- 1.6% (2025)
Climate
Highly varied: the Po Valley is humid subtropical with cool winters and hot summers, the coasts of Liguria and Tuscany and most of the south have a Mediterranean climate, and inland north and centre range from humid continental to oceanic. Hot summers in the south and Po Valley call for temperature control in warehouses.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 (purchase age raised from 16 to 18 in 2012)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 8.44 litres of pure alcohol (2024)
- Traditional drinks
- Grappa (grape pomace brandy, EU-protected name), Amaro (bitter liqueurs), Amaretto, Aperitifs such as Aperol and Campari
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Legal drinking age; Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli; Wikipedia - Italy; BusinessCoot - Italian spirits market; Global Drinks Intel - Italy's producers 2021; KVK - importing spirits (EU duty 0%); Federvini; Vinitaly, Verona. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.