History

Orazio Nonino establishes his own distillery in Ronchi di Pavia. Until this point it had been only a movable still assembled on wheels.

Giannola and Benito Nonino create the first single-grape grappa, Picolit, revolutionizing the way of producing and introducing Grappa in Italy and in the world.
They created the Single Varietal Grappa, the Monovitigno® Nonino, by distilling the pomace of Picolit grapes on its own.

Second distillation of Picolit single-varietal grappa, first distillation of Ribolla single-varietal grappa.

Looking for the pomace of ancient vines, autochthonous of Friuli, the Noninos discover that the most representatives of them, Ribolla, Schioppettino, Tazzelenghe and Pignolo, are dying species because their growing is forbidden. With the aim of having them officially acknowledged by national and EU boards they create the Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize (Gold Vine Shoot Prize) to award every year the vine grower that has bedded the best plant of one or more of these vines, and a scholarship to award the best study, both technical and historical, concerning the vines of Ribolla Gialla, Schioppettino, Pignolo and Tazzelenghe.

The jury is composed by Luigi Veronelli, Orfeo Salvador (president of the vine-growing and wine-making regional center of Friuli Venezia Giulia), Antonio Calò (director of the vine-growing experimental institute of Conegliano), Ruggero Forti (national and regional president of farmers), Amelio Tubaro (director of agricultural production, Department of Agriculture) and Ennio Nussi (director of the vine-growing and wine-making regional center of Friuli Venezia Giulia).

Giannola Nonino starts the bureaucratic   procedures for the request of acknowledgement of such vines sending an official letter to the Regional center for vine-growing of Friuli Venezia Giulia, to President Orfeo Salvador, and stimulating with sensibility, passion and persistence the Vine-Growing Experimental Institute of Conegliano, whose director had joined the jury of the prize.

With the clear understanding of underlining the everlasting topicality of rustic civilization, along with the Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize the Nonino Prize for Literature is founded. The jury is presided by Mario Soldati and made up by Elio Bartolini, Gianni Brera, Morando Morandini, Giulio Nascimbeni, Padre David Maria Turoldo and Luigi Veronelli.

Under specific request of the Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize the E.E.C. regulation n. 347/79 is issued. Starting from March 12, 1978 it authorises the cultivation of the vines of Schioppettino, Pignolo, Tazzelenghe and Ribolla Gialla for the province of Udine.

The Nonino Risit d’Âur Prize obtains the E.E.C. regulation n. 382 of 1983 according to which the vines authorised in 1978 become recommended.

In 1984 the Nonino International Prize is born. It is reserved to a foreign writer in Italy.

Bruno Munari creates the sculpture, a memory of the Nonino Prize.

Nonino Special Prize to Rigoberta Menchù for her Guatemala country woman testimony, translated by Elisabetta Burgos and published by Giunti. Rigoberta Menchù will be awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

In 1990 the Nonino Prize is born. It is meant for a personality of our time.

Paris, the Nonino Prize is invited at the Italian Institute of Culture within the cycle “The voyage, popular values and cultural meanings” dedicated to Italian foundations, among which the Agnelli Foundation, Benetton and Fai. On the day dedicated to the Nonino Prize Jorge Amado, Peter Brook, Emmanuel Le Roy-Ladurie and Claude Levi-Strauss take part in the debate.

Maestro Claudio Abbado, as the Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival, entrusts the Jury of the Nonino Prize with the Salzburg Easter Festival Literary Prize.

A concert by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado for the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Nonino Prize.

The Nonino Family creates the Manos Blancas Chorus of Friuli, the first Italian chorus and also the first outside Venezuela.

“Everybody thinks that to join a chorus you need hearing and voice. But it isn’t true. The children of the Manos Blancas Chorus, which means white hands, have found their place in the educative orchestras of their Country, Venezuela, even if they cannot hear and speak, even if they have motor disabilities or learning difficulties or if they are affected by autism. They have learned music with their heart and, if they have no voice, they sing with their hands wearing white gloves. They express rhythmically any musicalpiece, describe poetic geographies, and follow the rhythm of vibrations. Their “song of signs” is joy and care, it is the right to express themselves, it is the possibility to take part in other people’s life.”…

The Jury of the Nonino Prize welcomes a new member: Fabiola Gianotti, the first woman who joins the Jury in the History of the Nonino Prize.

At the 44^th edition of the Nonino Prize, the Jury announces its new President: Antonio Damasio, Nonino Master of our Time Prizewinner in 2003.

For the first time in the history of the Nonino Prize, the 44^th edition is dedicated to Vidia Naipaul – President of the Nonino Prize from 2008 to 2018 – and to Ermanno Olmi – member of the Jury and President of the Nonino Prize from 2006 to 2007 – who both died in 2018. The act aims to represent the continuity of the values they conveyed, which have become milestones for the Prize and the Nonino Family

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco will host the twentieth edition of the prestigious Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Awards, the most important international prize in the world of wine and spirits. To make this ceremony special for Italy there will be the presence of the Nonino Distillery from Percoto, the first Italian company to be awarded the section “Best Distillery of the world 2019”.
The Nonino family will arrive in San Francisco with their company history, together with the President of the Nonino Prize Jury, the scientist Professor Antonio Damasio.
The Californian ceremony will take place at the end of January and the date will coincide with the awarding of the Nonino Prize, an event that has always been held in Friuli on the last Saturday of January with the presence of the whole family. For this reason, the Nonino Prize Forty-fifth year will be awarded on 30th January 2021.

Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize Gold Vine Shoot
to Affido Culturale.
Nonino International Prize (Salani Editor)
to David Almond.
Nonino Prize “Masters of our time”
(Castelvecchi, Raffaello Cortina, Feltrinelli, Laterza, Mimesis and Meltemi)
to Nancy Fraser and Mauro Ceruti.
To celebrate the 45th Nonino Prize a toast with the Grappa Cocktail “Speranza” by Salvatore Calabrese with Antonia Klugmann L’argine a Vencò (Gorizia) and Uroš Fakuč DAM Restaurant (Nova Gorica) accompanied with fresh cheese from the Isonzo Valley and Mediterranean herbs to ideally build a bridge between the peoples at the center of Europe.

The Jury of the Nonino Prize is enriched with three new members: Amin Maalouf, Lebanese writer, member of the Académie française; Jorie Graham, American poet; and Mauro Ceruti, Italian philosopher. It is also announced that, as per tradition, the Nonino Prize Forty-sixth Year will be held on January 27, 2024.

Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize Gold Vine Shoot (Ediciclo, Bottega Errante) to Angelo Floramo and to Cooperativa Insieme ‘Fruits of Peace’.
Nonino International Prize (Sellerio, Vita e Pensiero, Einaudi ) to Alberto Manguel.
Premio Nonino to Rony Brauman for Médecins Sans Frontières.
Nonino Prize “Master of our time” (Bollati Boringhieri) to Naomi Oreskes.