Marquis Filippo Sassoli dé Bianchi re-founded the Buton liqueur distillery, born in 1820 from the partnership between Napoleonic veteran Jean Bouton (former supplier to the French royal house, coming from a family of distillers from Charente) and Giacomo Rovinazzi, a confectioner under the Pavaglione portico. Since 1830, “Gio. Buton s.p.a’ has been based in Bologna in viale Pietramellara, where it has produced highly successful distillates such as Amaro Felsina, Crema Cacao, Cognac Buton, Coca Boliviana and even a gum-based syrup, described as a “sovereign preservative against chest diseases”. In 1900, the company participated in the Exposition Universelle in Paris with a sumptuous Art Nouveau kiosk, work of Ermete Maccaferri, which was awarded a gold medal. In 1939, Count Achille Sassoli de Bianchi launched the product that would make Buton the leading Italian liquor company: the “Vecchia Romagna” brandy. After the Liberation, it was a great success with American soldiers stationed in Bologna. In the 1960s, also thanks to effective advertising starring Petronian actor Gino Cervi, “Vecchia” would become the brandy that “creates an atmosphere”. Buton’s constant growth would only be interrupted by the crisis of the 1980s, when the brand would be acquired by the Seragnoli family, owners of the Montenegro company.