Golden Fruit: A Cultural History of Oranges in Italy (Toronto Italian Studies)

"Through a close reading of key texts, including poetic and spiritual writings, fairy tales, and a botanical treatise, Golden Fruit examines the role of oranges in Italian culture from their introduction during the medieval period through to the present day. Featuring a beautiful full-colour spread, Cristina Mazzoni's book brings together artistic depictions, literary analysis, historical context, and popular culture to investigate the changing representations of the orange over time and across the Italian peninsula. Oranges were introduced to Italy in the 1200s, many centuries after beloved Mediterranean fruits such as grapes, figs, and pomegranates--all well-known since Antiquity. Not burdened with age-old meanings and symbolism, then, oranges in early modern times provided a malleable image for artists, writers, and scientists alike. Thus, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, oranges appear in visual and verbal representations as an effective aid in physical and spiritual health, as symbols of romantic and of divine love, and as signs of geographic allegiance to one's citrus-rich land. Baroque poets, botanists, and painters regularly compared oranges to women for their shared hybrid nature, whereas later folklore presented this dual character of oranges from an economic standpoint, as both precious and dangerous. The violence intrinsic to oranges in these Sicilian texts from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds returns in the controversial representations of the orange harvest in early twenty-first century Italy."-- Provided by publisher "Through a close reading of key texts, including poetic and spiritual writings, fairy tales, and a botanical treatise, Golden Fruit examines the role of oranges in Italian culture from their introduction during the medieval period through to the present day. Featuring a beautiful full-colour spread, Cristina Mazzoni's book brings together artistic depictions, literary analysis, historical context, and popular culture to investigate the changing representations of the orange over time and across the Italian peninsula. Oranges were introduced to Italy in the 1200s, many centuries after beloved Mediterranean fruits such as grapes, figs, and pomegranates--all well-known since Antiquity. Not burdened with age-old meanings and symbolism, then, oranges in early modern times provided a malleable image for artists, writers, and scientists alike. Thus, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, oranges appear in visual and verbal representations as an effective aid in physical and spiritual health, as symbols of romantic and of divine love, and as signs of geographic allegiance to one's citrus-rich land. Baroque poets, botanists, and painters regularly compared oranges to women for their shared hybrid nature, whereas later folklore presented this dual character of oranges from an economic standpoint, as both precious and dangerous. The violence intrinsic to oranges in these Sicilian texts from the eighteen and nineteen hundreds returns in the controversial representations of the orange harvest in early twenty-first century Italy."-- Résumé de l'éditeur Cover 1 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: How to Peel an Orange 14 1 Fruit of the Spirit: Health, Salvation, and Catherine of Siena’s Candied Oranges 26 The Ambivalent Status of Early Modern Fruit 26 Holy People and the Introduction of Oranges in Europe 32 Sweet and Bitter Flavours in Catherine’s Orange Letter 39 Catherine’s Recipe for Candying and for Holiness 46 2 The Fruit of Love: Citrus Symbolism in Pontano and Basile 58 Oranges as Symbols of Love in Renaissance Culture 58 Pontano’s De hortis Hesperidum and the Praise of Campania 68 Women and Fruit in Basile’s “The Three Citrons” 75 Citrus Fruit and the Literary Dignity of Fairy Tales 81 3 The Fruit of the Womb: Ferrari’s Maternal Images of Citrus 91 Pregnancy and Metamorphosis in Botany and Literature 91 Fruit, Women, and Monsters in Early Modern Europe 115 The Classification of Citrus Monsters in Hesperides 121 Ferrari’s Citrus Myths of Origin 130 4 Strange Fruit: Violence and the Sacred in the Economy of Citrus 139 Oranges and Wealth in Early Modern Times 139 The Ambivalent Value of Oranges in Sicilian Folklore 144 Sacred Oranges and Immigrant Stories 152 Violence and the Sacred Oranges of Rosarno 159 Conclusion: The Colour of the Golden Fruit 169 Appendix: A Chronology of Oranges 176 Notes 180 Bibliography 198 Index 214 Colour plates follow page 86 98