Lemon farming on the Amalfi Coast has always been linked to the Aceto family, who have been operating for five generations. "Salvatore Quasimodo, do you know what he said? That we Amalfitans don't notice when we go to Paradise because we've already spent a lifetime there." Luigino Aceto (known as Gigino) is 84 years old, and he laughs as he freely quotes the Sicilian poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
Along with his two sons, Gigino Aceto is the owner of Azienda Agricola Salvatore Aceto, the renowned farm founded in 1825 by Gigino's ancestor. Nowadays, they are specialized in the organic cultivation of a particular type of lemon, the Sfusato Amalfitano, unique in the world for the quality and organoleptic characteristics – also known as L'Oro di Amalfi.
Luigino Aceto (ph Sabrina Rossi)
Today, it's my turn. I'm on my way with Gigino Aceto to pick lemons at sunrise, sporting a leather belt equipped with shears. Gigino lists the various types of lemons he cultivates, like a grandfather citing the names of his grandchildren. The majority of the production concerns the Limone Costa d'Amalfi PGI in the varieties: Sfusato Amalfitano, Zagara Bianca, Verdello. There are also the Cedro Profumato d'Amalfi, the Ponziro, and the Limone Gigante.
Sara Tieni picking lemons (ph Sabrina Rossi)
We begin to work in this Garden of Eden by moving the chestnut poles used to build the pergolas that help the trees rest their branches while also sheltering them from the elements. The lemon trees must be carefully supervised, protected with plastic sheets from hailstorms. "Here, there are grafted plants up to 280 years old. When one of them dies, we mourn. On the other hand, there 500-year-old lemon trees in another grove, 230-feet high, overlooking the port of Amalfi."
The Amalfi Lemons (ph Sabrina Rossi)
We move to the upper grove to admire the rare giant lemons that are almost as large as melons. Though the view is breathtaking, there's no room for distraction. Lemon farming on the Amalfi Coast has been rightly defined as Agricoltura Eroica (Heroic agriculture) because all the cultivation is located on vertical soils, which thin out from the hills of the Lattari Mountains to the sea.
"The lemon trees must be continually cleared of wild grass," Gigino chimes in, inviting me to imitate him. I raise my gaze and above me, I see rows of intertwined branches laden with ready-to-pick lemons. I start by dressing properly because "you have to protect yourself from thorns," Gigino warns me, showing me the "war" wounds on his head and hands. He treats them with lemon juice. "It's miraculous," although, he admits, a little painful. A very personal homeopathic remedy valid for everything, "including stomach problems," he adds.
(ph Sabrina Rossi)
Smiling and dusty, Gigino is a true local legend: it's no coincidence that he was named a "Living Heritage of Humanity" by the European University Center for Cultural Heritage in 2018. This man is a treasure within a treasure - the Amalfi Coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Aceto family is the promoter and founder of the Consortium for the Protection of the Amalfi Coast IGP Lemon, which is dedicated to "promoting and disseminating this product's unique characteristics of excellence among consumers, traders, professionals, media and tour operators. " For his numerous activities in the field of limonicultura, Gigino Aceto has been awarded the titles of Official Knight of the Republic and Cavaliere del Lavoro (Order of the Merit for Labor).
But I shouldn't be distracted: the branches have to be pruned now. The passata, or harvesting of the largest fruits, begins in February and continues until August or September. Once the fruit is loaded into the baskets, we place them in boxes that reach the valley via a pulley system. I'm thirsty, so they give me a limone scoperchiato, which is a lemon stripped of its pulp and filled with water and wine — "the pickers use it as a glass," I am told. They also eat the peel, which is sweet and aromatic as soon as it is picked. Balancing on a ladder, I pick fruit the entire morning.
Chef Stanzione with Sara Tieni (ph Sabrina Rossi)
Where will all those glorious lemons end up? From Limoncello, the Amalfi Coast's signature liqueur, to all over the world. I hand over part of the harvest to Giuseppe Stanzione, the chef at another Amalfi institution, the five-star luxury hotel Santa Caterina. With a spectacular view of the Gulf of Salerno, Santa Caterina was founded in 1904 by the Gambardella family, famous hoteliers on the Coast. This magical place was recently enriched by a plantation of 500 lemon trees and a vegetable garden, both organic. Here, Amalfi Coast lemons are definitely the star of the table: Tagliolini Bianchi e Neri al Limone Amalfitano has been on the menu of Glicine, the hotel's gourmet restaurant, for over 40 years. Lemon zest, pulp, and juice are also used in the Al Mare restaurant's delicious dishes. Located on a terrace, the restaurant is so close to the water that you can smell not only the perfume of the Sfusati lemons but also the aroma of the sapphire blue sea.
(ph Sabrina Rossi)
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Photography Sabrina Rossi