As far back as 1700, when Castelmola was only one of those small villages where a group of families lived, Caffè Blandano began as a tavern with its name as homage to the patron saint San Giorgio. Then in the early 20th century, with the arrival of the first tourists to Sicily and the increased interest in Taormina, the Blandano family quite rightly thought of offering visitors something more than a simple glass of wine. It was in this period that Don Vincenzo Blandano created the aromatic almond wine which was called “Blandanino”, a mysterious dark amber-coloured alcohol in which various fragrances and tastes of Sicily were blended, among which were almond, zibibbo, aromas, orange flowers and perhaps also jasmine…
Others tried to reproduce this mysterious elixir but nobody managed to obtain the same taste that is still to be found among the shelves of Caffè San Giorgio in the numbered bottles of special reserve of Blandanino… another tradition handed down by Mr. Blandano to the new proprietors (f.lli Intelisano) is that of giving all the tourists who arrive at Castelmola the opportunity of tasting the sweet elixir whilst enjoying the wonderful panorama over the sea, Taormina and Calabria…
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The notoriety of Don Vincenzo Blandano is also due to the wonderful collection of autographs which Peyrefitte speaks of in his “Dal Vesuvio all’Etna”…. All the aristocrats of the time, princes, explorers, millionaires, and dreamers signed, sealing their visit to the suggestive terrace from which one of the most beautiful panoramas can be enjoyed. Among the famous signatures, there are Rolls Royce, Strass; Ford, Morgan Rockfeller, Badoglio; Mountbatten and lots of actors and actresses of the Idolism period. Many ex-soldiers, both German and American, have written nice and moving phrases and some of these have returned in the last twenty years or so to look at the old autograph books with tears in their eyes...
The old volumes are now preserved but the tradition of famous and non-famous continue to sign the great books with their emotions….Mr. Blandano always repeated to his visitors “Stop, drink my elixir which will bring you good fortune too and come back…” His tradition continues to this day in the hope that the beautiful panorama and the fragrance of his sweet wine cap unforgettable moments for visitors…
