VOV: Where the story of Italy's eggnog war began

The tale of Italy's eggnog war begins with a classic winter cocktail known as bombardino. This iconic drink was invented in 1972 by Aldo Del Bò, a ski lift manager in Livigno. The concoction consists of whiskey or brandy mixed with hot zabaione, the Italian version of eggnog, and topped with a generous amount of whipped cream. It's the ideal beverage to warm up after a day of skiing. However, unbeknownst to many, every order of this now classic cocktail signifies taking a side in one of Italy's longest-standing culinary rivalries.

The key ingredient of bombardino, zabaione, has a history that predates the founding of Italy itself. The traditional recipe calls for a very specific type of zabaione: VOV. The story of Italy's eggnog war – the century-long battle to define the recipe for one of the country's most iconic winter drinks – begins with VOV. This particular zabaione has its origins in the medieval university town of Padua, located about 50km inland from Venice. Padua, renowned for its world's first botanical garden, has long been a site of culinary and medical innovation. VOV was the brainchild of Giovanni Battista Pezziol, a grocer who settled in Padua in the early 1840s. He came up with the idea for VOV while producing torrone, a classic Italian nougat confection, which left him with hundreds of leftover egg yolks.

However, VOV was not the only zabaione in the market. Numerous distilleries and pastry shops began to produce their own versions of zabaione, each claiming to be a rival to VOV. The main competitor was Zabov, a sweeter and less alcoholic version of zabaione, created by Luigi Moccia from Ferrara. Over time, Zabov surpassed VOV in popularity. Today, VOV has been largely forgotten, but it still holds a special place in the ski towns of northern Italy, where the bombardino, made with VOV, remains a beloved post-skiing treat.