Changes

So now we've got a riddle to solve: was it Clement or Caetani? Piva or Biera? To find out, we need to dig into somewhat older sources. Let's go back to see a source from 1888 and see if it gets any clearer.

| In 1596 , Enrico Gaetano, an envoy of Pope Clement VIII, praised the beer of Warka in his diaries, claiming it was excellent, whitish, piquant, reminiscent in colour and flavour of wine. About the beer of Warka we once read the following anecdote: Nuncio Saluzzo grew very fond of Warka beer and upon leaving Poland he took with him considerable stock of that beer; but as everything in this world comes to an end, so did the nuncio’s barrels eventually run dry. It came to pass that the venerable prelate fell mortally ill, stifled by an enormous ulcer in his throat, and those gathered around him began to recite the litany for the dying. Meanwhile the sick was suffering from great thirst; in the middle of the litany, somewhere between Saints Gervase and Protase, the nuncio recalled his favourite refreshing beer, “Pivo di Varca, Pivo di Varca!” and sighed deeply twice. The priest reciting the prayer, thinking the nuncio remembered one more saint, responded piously, “Sancta Piva di Varca, ora pro nobis!” Hearing this, the nuncio burst cordially into laughter, the ulcer ruptured and with it ended the sickness. This is how the Polish beer of Warka saved a papal nuncio from death.