Alessandro Martini (1812-1905), Italian businessman, founder of the most important company of vermouth in the world, namely Martini or Martini & Rossi in the United States Martini Extra Dry Martini is an Italian vermouth, named after the Martini & Rossi distillery in Turin which was partly founded by Alessandro Martini. ...

In 1830 he purchased a small company of vine, which was situated very close to Turin. In 1847 several Italian businessmen started producing vine, spirits and vermouth in the Distilleria Nazionale di Spirito di Vino of Turin. Thanks to the Risorgamento, the economic prospects were bright and the organisation soonly became a profitable business. A few years later, Alessandro Martini entered the small team and became the director of the society in 1863 with Luigi Rossi, who was the inventor of a very subtle vermouth, and Sola. During this period the Distilleria Nazionale di Spirito di Vino kept on growing and a several subsidiaries were created in Genova, Cagliari and Narbonne thanks to the protection of the King of Piedmont. Turin (Italian Torino) is a major industrial city in north-western Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. ... Vermouth is a fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs and spices (aromatized in the trade) in recipes that are closely-guarded trade secrets. ... Piedmont (Italian: Piemonte) is a region of northwestern Italy. ...

In 1863, one of the most important date of the company (which is still written on the bottle), Martini, Sola and Rossi changed the name of the company into "Martini, Sola & Cia". They started exporting the bottles of vermouth all around the world. For example New York city was given its first boxes of bottles in 1867. At the same time the firm was awarded a good many prizes which were proudly shown on the bottles: Dublin (1865), Paris (1867 and 1878), Vienne (1873) and Philadelfia (1876). Just thirty years after its creation Martini was drunk in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Egypt,... The Empire State Building (right) and the Chrysler Building (left) are easily recognized symbols of New York City to the world. ...

En 1879 Sola died and his sons prefered sold all their shares in the company. The firm consequently decided to change of name and became Martini & Rossi, the name we can see today on the bottle in the United States. Between 1870 and 1880 the company diversified and the two directors launched Vino Canelli Spumante (at present better known as Ast Martini). One of their success was also to create the former tradition of the end of the 18th century again, when the European courts were all fond of vermouth. In 1868 Martini & Rossi was authorized by the King Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy to put the symbols of the royal family as a proof of the firm's quality. The King of Portugal Louis of Portugal (1872), the Queen of Austria Christina (also regent of Spain) (1897) and the British Parliament did the same. The symbols of Melbourne, Anvers and Mendoza quickly followed and we can still see all these things on the bottles. King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy Victor Emmanuel II (Italian: Vittorio Emanuele II; March 14, 1820—January 9, 1878) was the King of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia from 1849–1861, and King of Italy from 1861 until his death in 1878. ...

When Alessandro Martini died in 1905 the three sons of Luigi Rossi inherited the company. They already launched Martini Extra Dry (1900) and Martini Bianco (1910) before his death and created subsidiaries all around the world. In 1922 it officialy became Martini (except in the United States where they were compelled to keep Martini & Rossi because Martini was already an American cocktail.