The cultural appointment with the prince of citrus fruits is for Thursday 9 May at 4.00pm Turin Book Fair. The professor. Pasquale Amato, a historian from Reggio Calabria who has been leading a real crusade for decades, will present his essay “History of the bergamot of Reggio Calabria” within the space of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Oval Pavilion) together with Antonella Cuzzocrea (City of the Sun Editions).
The history of the bergamot of Reggio Calabria
Pasquale Amato has reconstructed the fascinating history of the precious native citrus fruit for which the city of Reggio Calabria and the coastal strip of its province from Scilla to Monasterace have held global exclusivity for centuries. The historical journey what emerged from it is that of the events of an entire community, involved in the fate of its richest deposit; events set in the scenario of both the Strait Area and the entire South, elements which are co-protagonists because their destinies coincided with those of the bergamot, influencing their successes and downfalls; events which, at least since the second half of the seventeenth century, have been intertwined with the history of Europe and the world, a direct consequence of the first European and then global projection in which the uniqueness and exceptional qualities of Prince of Citrus Fruits they have dragged the society and the economy of the area.
The result is a fascinating fresco that goes from the mysterious origin shrouded in legend to the grand debut in Court of the Sun King at Versailles; from Café Procope to the conquest of lounges, cafes and shops of the Enlightenment century; from the statement ofCologne in 1704 to the first plantation in 1750; from the “bergamot bourgeoisie” to the “City of Bergamot”; from the last golden phase after unity to the first crisis, to the sophistication and attack of the synthetic; from the analysis of the reasons for the unfinished production cycle and the “business of others” to the signs of recovery at the dawn of the 20th century up to the watershed of the catastrophic earthquake of 1908.
Beloved finally wanted to outline the picture of the last decade, which represented the resumption of the centrality of bergamot. A recovery that has had flashes of light such as the relaunch of food use, the recognition of DOP brand from the European Union, two national and regional protection laws, the launch of the Higher Institute of Perfumery up to the prospect of the Bergamot District. A project that would complete, in an eco-development logic, that economic cycle which, for the most varied reasons identified and described by the author, has never come to fruition.
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