Tra le limonaie di Limone sul Garda un percorso tra storia e cultura ...

Growing lemonsLa raccolta dei limoni.Lemon picking.Each tree in the lemon house had an available surface area ofbetween 16 and 20 square meters that was called a plot (cap orcampàa). The number of plots determined the size of a garden.Already in the 16 th century Agostino Gallo established severalrules for growing lemons, recommending that the plants haverich gravel-free soil and that fertilizer be spread before the soilwas hoed and the lemon house was still uncovered 6 . Besidesfertilizing, the soil had to be weeded and hoed, the trees had tobe pruned and irrigated, and the lemon house had to be coveredand uncovered.The lemons were picked (spicànda) by hand while pickers stoodon special ladders or three-legged stools, and were then placedin a leather sack (grümiàl).Lemon trees flower several times a year, first in May then throughoutthe summer and fall. The fruits of May are not as smoothand round as the fruits of June and July. These are the best fruits,while the lemons grown in August are considered less valuable.The trees bloom and fruit is also picked, but in minor quantity,in September and October. Taking into account the productionover a decade, one tree in full production supplied between 500and 600 lemons, on average, during the two main harvests ofMay and June.Citrus fruits were used for many things. Agostino Gallo wrote“a good amount of money can be made from many parts of theplants… citron blossoms can be eaten in salads or preserved invinegar to be served with honey or sugar; even orange blossomscan be used for making superb scented waters….unripe fruit isused for many delicate condiments, and tiny oranges are used tomake wreaths that are beautiful to look at and delightful to smell.The ripe fruit is valued for eating, making preserves and is givento the sick and also used in medicines….even orange peels aresold for making good pickled fruit relish, orange juice, paradellofocaccias, liqueur and spiced bread” 7 .Citron water, which was first produced in Salò in the second halfof the 18 th century by Antonio Bonardi and has been made byLuigi Patuzzi since 1840, was also quite popular.13