The beloved Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio famously described the view from the Reggio Calabria boardwalk, where the Mediterranean and Ionian seas meet, as “the most beautiful mile in Italy.”
But beyond its spectacular views, the combination of the sea and the unique microclimate created by the Apennine mountain range provide ideal conditions for the citrus fruit bergamot.
Grown almost exclusively for centuries on the 90-kilometer stretch of the Ionian coast, the toe of the Italian boot, the fruit's essential oil has become a precious ingredient in perfumes, luxury cosmetics and even Earl Gray tea, sought after for its complex, orange flavor. a note on perfumes and the ability to fix perfumes on the skin.
“It's a miracle of nature,” said Ezio Pizzi, president of the Bergamot Consortium, which in 2001 received the coveted Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) status from the European Union for its essential oil.
“To think that this plant was brought from Sicily and planted here, 15 kilometers away, in this wonderful microclimate that has given us the best qualities.”
Over time, Calabrians discovered many benefits of the oil extracted from the skin of the ripe fruit while still green – from repelling mosquitoes and flies to acting as a powerful disinfectant and improving longevity and fragrance diffusion.
However, in the late 1960s, the invention of artificial oils caused the value of natural bergamot to decline, leading landowners to cut down their trees. For about 25 years, the cultivation of bergamot stops in this area.
Then, in the early '90s, the rise of organic products sparked a renewed interest, especially in French perfumes. Pizzi, a member of one of the few landowner families that did not destroy their orchards, gathered a group of producers and relaunched the production of essential oil, forming a consortium.
“We were able to double the price from 18 cents a liter to 36 cents in the first year,” he said. “Now we are collecting money equivalent to one euro per liter.”
Today, says Pizzi, the DOP area in Calabria produces 80 percent of the world's bergamot.
However, until just over a decade ago, the flesh of the fruit was cast aside—much of it was fed to animals.
The precious juice was once possessed by a demon
“I grew up with my mother telling me that if I eat bergamot, my hands will fall off,” said Vittorio Caminiti, local historian and founder of the small, home-grown National Bergamot Museum., located up a flight of stairs from a side street in Reggio Calabria.
Criminiti claims that wealthy landowners demonized the juice of the fruit, saying it was poisonous, to prevent local farmers from consuming it and thereby ensuring that the bergamot harvest remained solely on them to extract the oil. Before industrialization, he says it took 400 bergamots to make just one liter of oil.
“When someone died? They ate bergamot. When a woman miscarried? She ate bergamot. Any illness was blamed on bergamot,” he said. “There were many trees that needed to be guarded, so instead of arresting or beating people because they ate them, they just made up a story.
In the mid-1990s, Caminiti began experimenting with juice, eventually realizing that he had to wait until the bergamot was ripe before the orange could be eaten or drunk. She entered a cake she made with bergamot juice into a competition and took home the top prize.
Culinary media in Italy picked up on the story, expressing anger or disbelief.
“I was giving them bergamot recipes, and they called the head of the bergamot consortium, who told them I was crazy,” he said.
Health benefits
Soon after, the first scientific studies were conducted in Italy, showing that bergamot juice lowers blood pressure again cholesterol, and later showing potential to control diabetes.
The discovery of the juice's health benefits has drawn new producers to the market, such as Fabio Trunfio, 50, who works at the Patea Bergamot Agricultural Company – a 20-minute walk from the Pizzi groves.
Trunfio entered the bergamot oil market in 2007, expanding production to include juice and fruit sales in 2010.
Frustrated by what he says is the failure of Pizzi's Bergamot Consortium to actively promote the juice, he and other producers launched a bid to have their own unique EU designation: Protected Geographical Indication (IGP).
Like DOP, IGP focuses on the product's regional status, but offers more flexibility in authentication.
Trunfio and his team also applied for IGP certification.
“Once we get our IGP, we will be able to go out and publicize the amazing qualities of the juice from Calabrian bergamot,” said Trunfio, “and finally get a government certificate proving bergamot's cholesterol-lowering properties.”
The head of the DOP consortium Ezio Pizzi, however, opposes the plan of Trunfio and others of the IGP – fighting to maintain control of the product with a more exclusive DOP, which he says is appropriate. He complains that new farmers in the area are crowding the market, driving prices – which have already hit when sales of useless perfumes stopped during the violence – down dramatically.
As Calabrian bergamot producers struggle to control their produce, the big issue of climate change is looming. Throughout Italy, concerns are growing due to the vulnerability of monoculture, which is evident in everything from vineyards to olives.
But extreme summer temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns have greatly affected South African Italian farmers. Last summer, intense heat and drought in Sicily turned oranges and lemons into hard, shriveled nuts, with yields dropping by 40 percent.
For now, Calabria's water resources have been sufficient to compensate for the lack of rain, with a small portion of the fruit suffering from the heat. But producers warn that could change.
“We usually stop watering in September,” said Pizzi. “This year there is not a single drop of rain and for the first time I can remember, we are still watering in December.
He says he is now in discussions with regional politicians about establishing water desalination plants or using gray water from sinks, showers or washing machines for irrigation.
But unless action is taken soon, Calabria risks watching its hard-earned profits slip away again.
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