The lineage of the Da Ponte family is a glorious one, in constant pursuit of excellence and art. The art of distillation and also art in the meaning of music, acting and stage lights which finds its ultimate sublime expression in an emblematic figure, Lorenzo Da Ponte. The pseudonym of Emanuele Conegliano (Ceneda 1749 - New York 1838), he was a poet and man of letters, known above all as librettist of three great operas by Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro” (1786), based on the play by Beaumarchais, “Don Giovanni” (1787), to whose libretto Giacomo Casanova also made a contribution, and “Così Fan Tutte” (1790). After having been forced to leave Vienna and London he arrived in New York where he started out by teaching Italian literature at King’s College (today’s Columbia University). He also amused himself with distillation with university students and an Italian oenologist. When almost eighty years old he published his memoirs in three volumes and became a citizen of the United States of America. Considered an illustrious figure, in 1838 Lorenzo Da Ponte was given a state funeral, a privilege of the few.