The Florio family is a prominent entrepreneurial Italian family who started many lucrative activities in Sicily involving the export of Sicilian products in the nineteenth century, in some ways redeeming Sicily from feudal immobility. The family extended its interests to shipping, shipbuilding, fisheries, mining, metallurgy and ceramics.

Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status in 1969. The European Union grants Protected designation of origin (PDO) status to Marsala and most other countries limit the use of the term Marsala to products from the Marsala area.