A Grandson’s Quest for Real Poncio

Our story starts with an email sent to the AMHS in March 2025. Dominic Palumbo, a farmer at Moon in the Pond Farm and educator at Farm education, Inc., in Sheffield, Mass., wrote the following:

“My grandparents (Vincenzo Palumbo and Anna Scacciavillani) emigrated from Frosolone in Campobasso in 1903-5(?). I visited Frosolone in the late ’90s. My great-aunt, Vera Scaccivillani (about 85 yrs. old at the time) wrote out her recipe for the liquore, Poncio, for me. (She served it to me,  and I loved it sooo much!) I have resurrected the copy but I’m having trouble reading her handwriting and translating it. Perhaps some of your members may be able to help. For the historical aspect, I’m most interested in a direct transcription, as much as possible (rather than an interpretation of what she may have meant)… as well as the interpretation of ambiguous aspects!)
I am most grateful for any help you may be able to give!
Please feel free to share the recipe with your members and please include attribution. 
Sincerely, 
Dominic Palumbo “

What is Poncio? According to the website deliciousitaly.com, Poncio is the most typical of the Molisan liquors and goes on to say, “This drink originated as a home made brew before becoming widely available in the bars and pasticcerie shops of the region.The origin of the name remains unclear and the best guess is that it is an Italianised (sic) version of the English word ‘punch’.”
https://www.deliciousitaly.com/molise-food/local-liqueur-of-molise
AMHS President Chris Renneker sent the email to Board Member, and Molise native, Natasha Rovo, who went to work. the result is below.

Original recipe given to me (Dominic Palumbo) by my great aunt Vera Sciacciavillani in Frosolone in ~1998:

Transcription and translation below by Natasha Rovo of the Abruzzo-Molise Heritage Society (Wash, DC)—
In Italian:
Poncio di Vera Scacciavillani (moglie di zio Franceschino)
Alcol gr 500 + buccia di limone + buccia mandarino + qualche acino di caffe
Restare in infusione per 48 ore
Acqua grammi 750
Zucchero sciroppato grammi 500 (far bollire acqua e zucchero) 
In un tegame a parte, mettere 350gr di zucchero che dovranno diventare color tabacco (non girare). Versarlo poi nello zucchero sciroppato che deve essere molto caldo e girare. Quando e’ rafreddato, unire l’alcol. Fare attenzione!
Firma, 
Vera Scacciavillani
 
In English:
Poncio by Vera Scacciavillani (uncle Franceschino’s wife)
Alcohol 500g + lemon peel + mandarin peel + a few coffee beans
Leave to infuse for 48 hours
Water 750g
Sugar in syrup 500g (boil water and sugar)
In a separate pan, put 350g of sugar that must become tobacco colored (do not stir). Then pour it into the sugar in syrup that must be very hot and stir. When it has cooled, add the alcohol. Be careful!

Signature,
Vera Scacciavillani

Dominic took things a step further. As he wrote:

I made my own intuitive (significant) changes/adjustments to the original recipe as I thought I might prefer:
guessed on the volume (I used lots) of citrus peels and included some (navel) orange peel.
used the whole peel of mandarins and lemons but only the zest of navel oranges.
I juiced the citrus and reserved the juice to replace part of the volume of water. I made a more concentrated syrup (reducing the amount of water by the volume of reserved juice) then added the juice to the cooled syrup.
used a significant quantity of coffee beans vs. “a few”
Infusion:
500 ml (XXX) 190’ grain alcohol combined with
500 ml water
250 gr mandarin peels (whole) (~ 12 mandarins)
55 gr navel orange peels (zest only) (~3)
165 gr lemon peels (whole) (~3)
100 gr coffee beans
1 tbls. ground coffee
Syrup:
1000 gr sugar
1500 ml water (subtracted volume of juice of above citrus—see note below)
Caramel:
700 gr sugar

Infusion:
Using a veg. peeler, zest oranges. Halve all citrus and juice—strain through cloth and reserve juice in refrigerator. Infuse citrus peels and coffee beans in alcohol (if XXX, alcohol/water combo.) for 1 week, turning daily and pressing peels down into alcohol. At the end of the week, strain infusion. Then make syrup and caramel—
Syrup:
Measure juice volume. Subtract juice volume from water volume. (1500). Combine sugar and remaining water. Heat (almost boil) to dissolve.
Caramel:
In a non-reactive, wide vessel, melt sugar over med-high heat, without stirring, to caramelize. When it is very dark brown, immediately but CAREFULLY add to hot syrup (above). Stir to combine, then allow the mix to cool completely.
Combine and Age:
Combine cooled syrup-caramel mix with reserved strained juice and strained alcohol infusion. Let rest and age for about 6 months. (It definitely improves with age!) Enjoy!

The 2025 result was/is a very tasty liquor, although quite sweet. Next year I will attempt to offset/balance the sweetness by increasing the bitterness. I will increase the proportions of citrus peel (25-50%?), and I will take the caramel to a very dark (already noted above!) color (more towards the darkest tobacco vs. golden tobacco!), and I will increase the alcohol content slightly (10-20%?).
Please let me know your attempts/results/ideas!
Enjoy!