What would happen if each of us had the ability to believe so much in ourselves, that we had the courage to wholeheartedly follow our innate intuitions? Perhaps we could realize the dreams we cherish and optimally value our natural inclinations. Dreams, whether of land or sea, can be more or less clear: it is up to us to correctly interpret their meanings.
On this occasion, we will talk about an extraordinary person named Alberto Casula, who tried to follow his natural inclinations by interpreting and following his dreams, realizing them. We are in Desulo, a typical town in Barbagia with about 2000 inhabitants. A community with an ancient cultural, historical, and traditional heritage, nestled at the foot of Gennargentu (an evocative name that means, in Sardinian, "Silver Gate"), a mountain with its schists reflecting a metallic and silver hue. The name Desulo could mean "sheltered place." The highest peak, which overlooks Desulo like a sentinel and protects the community, is called Punta La Marmora.
It takes its name from the great general and scientist Alberto Ferrero della Marmora, who stayed here for naturalistic, geographical, and environmental studies, following his own research intuitions. Desulo is also the birthplace of the poet writing in Sardinian (in its Logudorese variant) Antioco Giuseppe Casula (1878-1957), grandfather of Alberto, who dedicated many poetic verses to the beauty of his village, its people, and the natural environment.
His grandson Alberto, a graduate in geological sciences, was a teacher but never abandoned or extinguished his passion for research and the study of natural herbs. In 2008, after a difficult period due to a lack of stimuli and satisfaction as an employee, he decided to follow his intuition: after various trials, research, and experimentation, he officially became a farmer, creating a small compliant laboratory for processing herbs and mountain products. He personally oversees the entire process from the cultivation of natural crops to their harvesting and drying.
Alberto says: "I owe a lot to my father. Since I was a child, back in the '70s, he used to take me to the mountains."
"With every step, with every gaze into the countryside - he says - he engagingly conveyed to me the recognition of herbs, being both knowledgeable and passionate about the environment, the landscape, and the local culture. I borrowed the name Arbisos from my mother's boundless Desulese vocabulary. Its meaning is intuitions, also because my way of working corresponds to a long path of research and experimentation, where intuition is paramount to discover and enhance the various and special ingredients that are medicinal herbs and berries of fruits collected from the Gennargentu mountains, the protagonists of these productions."
The raw materials are grown naturally and mainly come from the wild. The mountains of central Sardinia are a temple of flavors and aromas that change with altitude. Certain species take on shifting aromatic intensities and shades with the season. "Although I am not an herbologist - Alberto explains -, I have been defined over time as the alchemist of the Gennargentu because, following an experimental approach, I can create and invent original recipes, diversifying my productions."
"I use natural resources with the utmost respect, for the protection and preservation of wild herbs and fruits that represent and identify this mountain territory."
“An important aspect of this profession of mine is the interest and the fair knowledge of meteorology applied to the local reality, which has helped me and still influences various phases of my activities, from natural cultivation; the harvests, the decantation of infusions, and the drying of herbs are done according to the natural laws of the climate. From indigenous and natural ingredients, I create over 30 products including alcoholic beverages, wild fruit preserves, herb seasonings, and herbal teas with local production so small that I can affirm that I am the smallest producer of liqueurs and preserves in Italy; a strong point for the high quality achieved.”
And he concludes: “Even though I am registered as a farmer-entrepreneur, I do not feel that way, because it is a definition that does not belong to me; I see the entrepreneur as someone who knows the market, has a sense of business as was said in the good old days, produces even in considerable quantities, I do not. I work according to inspiration and feeling.”
The experimental activity with local botanical essences has reached a turning point in its journey with the creation of Amaro Montanaru. Amaro Montanaru is the result of a study effort. In respect and safeguarding of the natural and cultural heritage of the area, it synthesizes the various geo-environmental and historical-cultural aspects of the Gennargentu mountain range, evoking the climate and the variety of fragrances of wild plants. The past and present of the inhabitants, of still unspoiled places. As many verses of the poet Antioco Casula, whose environmental sensitivity anticipated the times.
Another noteworthy detail: Montanaru is the only bitter in Italy that does not contain sugar, but only and exclusively local honey.
As one can imagine, it has a very high cost compared to the sugar used by other producers. “My work among the woods and heaths, breathing in the natural but also cultural atmosphere,” Alberto recounts, “comes from the poems of the poet Montanaru, from the brambles and other thorny bushes that grow in various climatic conditions in all seasons of our mountains, which are the realm of flavors and scents that change, as already specified, according to altitude. Some species take on aromatic intensity and shades depending on the habitat, temperature, exposure, and soil.”
An example among all is the aspridda (barona grass), then the mountain juniper (Juniperus macrocarpa or coccolone) and other high-altitude species such as the helichrysum, oregano, and gentian. Fundamental aromas and flavors of Gennargentu. “Su sacru monte” (The sacred mountain), “s’altare Majore de onzi spiritu sardu in turmentu” (the altar of every Sardinian spirit in torment), according to the poet Montanaru.
The infusions of the herbs one by one, which are then mixed together and as individual voices must form a choir, the botanical varieties, will give rise to a new harmonic ensemble of exclusive aroma and flavor. In this elixir, 22 botanical species are gathered, including some wild fruits, such as blackberries, unmatched for their delicious taste and with their antioxidant properties, and the berries of dog rose, rich in vitamin C.
Even the Sardinian spirit of Alberto is in turmoil because the alchemy behind the production of the bitter Montanaru involves a spirit of tormented sardinity but with genuine passion and loyalty for the mountainous territory of Desulo and our island land. The same spirit of healthy restlessness has led our protagonist to send samples of the bitter to participate in the most important global competition of wines, liquors, and bitters of the Spirit Selection, in which the products come from five continents. They are then judged through anonymous tasting once a year by an international jury, experienced and independent, convened in China in 2024 and in Dubai in 2023.
In September, Alberto receives the wonderful news of being awarded the silver medal. For the first time, a Sardinian amaro reaches such an important peak.
In 2025, Arbisos increased laboratory experimentation to further improve the product, starting from an already excellent level recognized by the global competition Spirit Selection by CMB in 2024, ultimately achieving the desired goal: greater intensity of flavor and aroma, balance, and overall improvement of the organoleptic characteristics in the hope of new compelling milestones.
