The earliest references to Terceira’s “pirolitos” – carbonated soft drinks produced by the firm Frederico A. Vasconcelos – date back to the first decades of the twentieth century. These beverages were made from concentrates in flavours such as orange, lemon, and pineapple. They were distributed in bottles like this one, with the colour of the contents giving a clue to the flavour, and were packed in wooden, and later plastic, crates.
Around 1955, the factory was adapted into the building known for several generations as the “pirolitos factory,” which today houses the kindergarten “O Baloiço,” at the entrance of Rua dos Canos Verdes in Angra do Heroísmo. The earthquake of 1 January 1980 rendered these facilities unusable, leading to the unit’s relocation to the area known as “Avenidas,” on the outskirts of the city. The pirolito was manufactured and sold by the emblematic company “FREDERICO A. VASCONCELOS,” commonly abbreviated as F.A.V., which originated in Angra do Heroísmo but whose roots trace back to Lisbon at the end of the eighteenth century.
Following the death in 1993 of the last family representative, Dr Frederico João de Freitas e Vasconcelos, the company was divided into two entities: FAV – Comércio Agrícola, Lda. and Frederico A. Vasconcelos e Herd. Lda. The pirolitos, succumbing to the relentless evolution of the market, disappeared definitively some years ago. The Museum of Angra do Heroísmo preserves, in the Frederico Vasconcelos Room, the generous legacy of the last family member, which documents the Industrial Revolution in the Azores.
These items are part of the Science and Technology Collection of the MAH.
