Guinness® Collectors Club

Sandro Merlano reports from........Italy!

I started to collect beer cans in 1978.

Seven years ago I owned an original Guinness pub near my hometown of Susa (north west of Italy close to the french border). After I sold it I kept some of the items but the best of my Guinness collection came from years before. In fact I spent three summers in the UK to learn English and two holidays in Ireland. When I came back from Ireland after the summer of 1988 I had completely fallen in love with Guinness!

Guinness is very popular in Italy, expecially after the Guinness pub project, started in 1991 with the first "Matricola" pub in Milano. My pub, named "Dan Donnelly", was the first one opened in the Torino area, with a surface of 400 square meters plus garden.

Many people are crazy for Guinness objects; some of them just because they are so nice, but we have also some serious collectors, among them "Il Barattolo" ("the can") who runs The Italian Beer Collectors Club.

Pubs in my area are open until late in the night. Irish pubs are famous for music and good food, but Guinness is the highlight.

St. Patrick day, Halloween night, and local events run with Guinness promotions.

My main collection is beer cans and I have one of the largest in the world. In the place where I have my Guinness bar there is a 350 square metre beer museum with more than 7000 better cans displayed on the walls and another 20.000 in trays! Here is a picture of my bar.