The Sorrentine lemon has a “Protected Geographical Indication”
The cultivation of lemons on the Sorrentine Peninsula has thousands of years of history. Here is a widely grown cultivar that takes the name of the area: Sorrento’s “common oval Femminello lemon”, a lemon citrine yellow in colour, with a skin of medium thickness, rich inessential oils, with a strong, intense aroma and perfume and full of juice.
The presence of the lemons in the whole coastal area of Campania has been recorded since time immemorial. Splendid lemon trees are depicted in paintings and mosaics that came to light during the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, cities destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
While lemons continued to be cultivated on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Medieval and modern times, the spread of this specialised cultivation began in some Jesuit foundations such as the “Gesù” di Massa Lubrense and the “Cocumella” di Sant’Agnello.
In the eighteenth century demand for lemons increased in northern Europe and in the nineteenth century they broke into the North American markets. Lemons are in demand because of their many properties beneficial to the body: they increase its natural defences, act as detoxicants, purify the blood, have anti-rheumatic properties and reduce blood pressure. The highest levels of production and exports to foreign markets were recorded in the early twentieth century. Thus the demand for the Sorrentine lemon spread throughout the western world.
The oval Sorrentine lemon is not a defined cultivar but the result of breeding from the best and most widespread species on the Sorrentine coast. It flowers frequently and, if the winter cold did not intervene, it would flower almost continually throughout the year.
Thanks to the efforts of the Solagri Cooperative, which today brings together about 350 producers, the European Union has recognised the specific nature of the Sorrentine Lemon and its long history in the area and safeguards it with its ‘Protected Geographic Indication, or PGI, mark.
Solagri and four processing companies have founded the Consorzio di tutela del Limone di Sorrento igp.(Consortium for the Protection of the Sorrentine Lemon PGI)
The production area for the Sorrentine Lemon includes most of the territory covered by the Comuni (District Councils) of Vico Equense, Meta, Piano di Sorrento, Sant’Agnello, Sorrento, Massa Lubrense, Capri and Anacapri. In this area the Sorrentine Lemon is cultivated according to a strict discipline which provides for the use of traditional techniques and a places severe limitations on the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
Today the area covered by lemon plantations is about 400 hectares and while the total lemon harvest is estimated to be around 6,000 tonnes only about 2,000 of these are of the PGI product. The protection of the PGI mark extends to the processed products too and thus the excellent characteristics of the fresh fruit pass into marmalades, liqueurs, and oil based seasonings. Among the processed products prepared using the Sorrentine lemons, the most widely distributed is definitely Limoncello. Today the producer companies are important to the economy of the whole area. The certificated production in 2004 was 3,225,000 bottles or 2,106,000 litres.
Finally it should be stressed that the protection and revival of the Sorrentine lemon also protects and makes good use of the environment, the land, the rural culture and contributes to the entire economy of the area.
The presence of the lemons in the whole coastal area of Campania has been recorded since time immemorial. Splendid lemon trees are depicted in paintings and mosaics that came to light during the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, cities destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
While lemons continued to be cultivated on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Medieval and modern times, the spread of this specialised cultivation began in some Jesuit foundations such as the “Gesù” di Massa Lubrense and the “Cocumella” di Sant’Agnello.
In the eighteenth century demand for lemons increased in northern Europe and in the nineteenth century they broke into the North American markets. Lemons are in demand because of their many properties beneficial to the body: they increase its natural defences, act as detoxicants, purify the blood, have anti-rheumatic properties and reduce blood pressure. The highest levels of production and exports to foreign markets were recorded in the early twentieth century. Thus the demand for the Sorrentine lemon spread throughout the western world.
The oval Sorrentine lemon is not a defined cultivar but the result of breeding from the best and most widespread species on the Sorrentine coast. It flowers frequently and, if the winter cold did not intervene, it would flower almost continually throughout the year.
Thanks to the efforts of the Solagri Cooperative, which today brings together about 350 producers, the European Union has recognised the specific nature of the Sorrentine Lemon and its long history in the area and safeguards it with its ‘Protected Geographic Indication, or PGI, mark.
Solagri and four processing companies have founded the Consorzio di tutela del Limone di Sorrento igp.(Consortium for the Protection of the Sorrentine Lemon PGI)
The production area for the Sorrentine Lemon includes most of the territory covered by the Comuni (District Councils) of Vico Equense, Meta, Piano di Sorrento, Sant’Agnello, Sorrento, Massa Lubrense, Capri and Anacapri. In this area the Sorrentine Lemon is cultivated according to a strict discipline which provides for the use of traditional techniques and a places severe limitations on the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
Today the area covered by lemon plantations is about 400 hectares and while the total lemon harvest is estimated to be around 6,000 tonnes only about 2,000 of these are of the PGI product. The protection of the PGI mark extends to the processed products too and thus the excellent characteristics of the fresh fruit pass into marmalades, liqueurs, and oil based seasonings. Among the processed products prepared using the Sorrentine lemons, the most widely distributed is definitely Limoncello. Today the producer companies are important to the economy of the whole area. The certificated production in 2004 was 3,225,000 bottles or 2,106,000 litres.
Finally it should be stressed that the protection and revival of the Sorrentine lemon also protects and makes good use of the environment, the land, the rural culture and contributes to the entire economy of the area.