The acronym “Cata”, the origin of limoncello

Via delle Cartiere, 55/57
Offices in via Salita Chiarito, 9
Phone +39 089 873211, fax +39 089 872334
www.cata.amalfi.it
cata@starnet.it

The Luigi Aceto firm is the best way to enter the fantastic world of the “sfusato” lemon from Amalfi, the typical lemon of the Amalfi Coast whose name derives from the fact that it is tapered. This terracing dominates the centre both on the Luna Hotel side, where there are also citrons, and along the road leading to the fantastic Mulini Valley, just at the top of the town, in a place where houses are immersed in nature. Here there is this firm which produces citrus fruit. It was born in 1885 when Salvatore Aceto bought a land in Ravello. The activity was really successful in the first two decades of the twentieth century when ships loaded with lemons left the harbour of Amalfi. The “femminiello sfusato” lemon, without seeds and tapered, is different from the others because it is big, can be preserved for a long time, its rind is thick, rough and rich in very aromatic essential oils. It is picked more than once a year because of the typical phenomenon of the polymorphism which characterizes some lemons. The best lemons are produced in spring-summer, between March and the end of July with the so-called first blossoming when the plant has more energy to transmit to the fruit. Thanks to these characteristics the lemon from Amalfi is exported and turned into limoncello. Of course the Arabians, during their expansion and their conquests, introduced this lemon into Spain and Sicily and from here into Campania. But its productive and commercial spreading happened above all because it was used to fight scurvy, the lack of vitamin C which was widespread among sailors. For the inhabitants of Amalfi it was important to have it on their boats. In the tenth century the Amalfi Republic ordered to to have supplies of lemon on the boats. From 1400 to 1800 the demand increased also from the other Countries, above the North-European ones. The local historian Matteo Camera wrote that in 1600 lemons were shipped from Minori to other Italian markets with the limoncello and bitter oranges. So a larger number of “lemon gardens” became larger and larger along the Amalfi Coast thanks to man who recovered steep and impassable lands starting to cultivate them. After 1500 many authors wrote about lemons of this area and the “limon amalphitanus”, whose characteristics are similar to the day’s “sfusato” from the Amalfi Coast, is mentioned in a book of the seventeenth century. In the next decades the production of lemons passed through a crisis because of the competition of Sicily and the one of other Mediterranean countries and in the Eighties the terracing was abandoned as it didn’t give an income anymore. The success of the limoncello bettered agriculture: maybe it was born in a monastery but there are many conjectures. Some people remember that fishermen and peasants drank a bit of lemon liqueur in the morning to fight cold, other people tell that industrious monks tried to preserve good food in their life spent praying and in a period when roads weren’t safe and the sea was populated by robber Saracens. So the monks, who lived in monasteries built among rocks and near the sea, prepared desserts, preserves and also many kinds of infusions like the ones obtained with strawberries, myrtle, mandarin, the nuts from Sorrento and the lemons from the Amalfi Coast. Its success derives from the fact that some restaurant owners thought to serve it cold and not at room temperature, so enhancing the citrus fruit scents. It became very successful. This liqueur producing firm was born in 1992, just in the year when it became fashionable. They export it all over the world. This place is very charming. You can visit the Peasant Civilization Museum which is located in the firm. At present on the Amalfi Coast there are 400 hectares cultivated with the “sfusato” lemon. The producers from Amalfi thought to relate liqueur to the characteristics of this fruit which is really inimitable for its scents and sweetness also because they had to face the competition of the near Sorrento producers who they have never been in agreement with. It received the IGP certification which defend the handcrafted products from the competition of industry, even if industry makes the success of a high quality handcrafted product greater. Twenty years have passed and, thanks to this activity, the lemon orchards of the Amalfi Coast have been saved, the landscape and the environment, which make this land magic and renowned all over the world, have been defended, people have an income and consumers can enjoy a delicious liqueur at the end of the meal. The firm of the Aceto family also produces all the other typical infusions of the Amalfi Coast, preserves, baba with limoncello, lemon cream and honey. Don’t miss them.