CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly named Menachem Mendel Schneerson as the founder of the Chabad movement. This has now been updated. stars. Attlee, who knows and loves Italy and the Italians, takes the reader through the country's scented gardens with her sharp descriptions, pertinent stories and quotes and intriguing recipes. I was there with her Anna del Conte, Sunday Telegraph Summer has been a special time for as long as I can remember, as that's when the rabbis come to visit," said Angelo Adduci, who grew up in a family of citron farmers in Santa Maria del Cedro. "These visits are familiar memories not just for me, but for everyone in town, and Rabbi Lazar is like an uncle to me. It's a part of our childhood, and a happy one." A beautifully written book, infused with the bittersweet scent of citrus fruits and the flavour of Italy Guardian If you love eating, traveling and/or have a sweet spot for Italy, The Land Where Lemons Grow is the perfect read. Each chapter pays homage to a different region of Italy where lemons have been revered and delves into the many different varieties that exist. Little did I know this fruit has such connections with the mafia in Sicily, Sephardic Jews, and Salvatore Ferragamo. Attlee also investigates various trades and recipes related to citrus varieties including bergamot, marmalade, and blood oranges. There are also a number of intriguing recipes you can find in the book. Although I have yet to try any of them (some of them are rather odd and require hard to find ingredients) it is so much fun to read.

Although there are no Jewish communities left in Calabria today, Italy's Jewish world is proud of this cultural connection," said Disegni. These towns' Jewish past, just like citron, runs deep through the cultural identity of north-western Calabria.Her account of this and other gatherings creates a sense of magic among the fruit trees. Also there is her study of bergamot, Citrus bergamia, a cross between a lemon tree and a sour orange grown on a narrow slice of the Tyrrhenian coast at the very edge of Calabria. Here the produce is the most valuable citrus fruit in the world. While the bergamot has important antiseptic and antibacterial properties, its great economic value lies in its essential oil, used as the fixing agent in the perfume industry. Lemons originated in the Himalayan foothills; all oranges come from Assam or Burma (research suggests China may be another source) There is another way of enjoying bergamot oil: Earl Grey tea is a blend of dark China tea infused with bergamot oil or peel — and tastes best with, of all things, a slice of lemon.

Predictably given the geography of its explorations this is a book full of digressions. As a writer about Italian gardens and a leader of visiting groups, Attlee can’t help meandering down some alluring botanical or historical pathways with literary references hedging the horticultural hot-beds, from Theophrastus to Hans Christian Anderson, Lampedusa, DH Lawrence and Edward Lear to name a few. The story of citrus runs through the history of Italy like a golden thread, and by combining travel writing with history, recipes, horticulture and art, Helena Attlee takes the reader on a unique and rich journey through Italy's cultural, moral, culinary and political past. I started reading this during a vacation in Tuscany last month. Attlee, a garden historian, does a great job of blending travel, science, and history – and she even includes some recipes, too. Here are a few of the fascinating and unexpected things I learned about citrus fruit:

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Este librito, escrito por Helena Attlee, una periodista británica experta en jardines italianos, está compuesto de varios ensayos en los que la autora explora las diferentes zonas de Italia donde se cultivan cítricos, y cuenta la historia, particularidades y curiosidades de cada una y del cítrico típico del lugar, ya sean limones, naranjas, quinotos, bergamotas, o alguna de sus peculiares variedades. The Land Where Lemons Grow uses the colourful past of six different kinds of Italian citrus to tell an unexpected history of Italy, from the arrival of citrons in 2nd century Calabria, through Arab domination of Sicily in the 9th century, to slow food and cutting-edge genetic research in the 21st. Along the way Helena Attlee traces the uses of citrus essential oils in the perfume industry and describes the extraction of precious bergamot oil; the history of marmalade and its production in Sicily; the extraordinary harvest of 'Diamante' citrons by Jewish citron merchants in Calabria; the primitive violence of the Battle of Oranges, when the streets in Ivrea run with juice. She reveals the earliest manifestations of the Mafia among the lemon gardens outside Palermo, and traces the ongoing links between organised crime and the citrus industry. A Spanish ship sheltering in Dundee in the 1700s unloaded its cargo of oranges from Seville, and as these were too bitter for sale a Mrs. Keiller used them instead of her usual quinces for marmalade — very profitably as it turned out. Three centuries later the organic citrus estate at San Giuliano in Sicily was the home of the late Fiamma Ferragamo, famous as the principal designer for Ferragamo shoes; her daughter Giulia has maintained Fiamma’s exports of hand-made single-fruit San Giuliano marmalade using lemons, red grapefruit, sweet, sour or blood oranges, mandarins or tangelos. stars. Attlee, who knows and loves Italy and the Italians, takes the reader through the country's scented gardens with her sharp descriptions, pertinent stories and quotes and intriguing recipes. I was there with her' Anna del Conte, Sunday Telegraph One thing for sure is I was curious why our rental home for the summer was called the limonaia. When I finally did some rudimentary research I realized it was originally built as a hibernation-den for lemons! In the winter months Tuscany gets rather cold and citrus plants like lemon trees need to be sheltered inside. Now that I think of it even in New York my dad, who loves gardening, tends to move our potted lemon trees into the house for winter!