Three of the books in Hesperides are dedicated to describing the different fruits in each category.įerrari was particularly interested in deformed fruit, which he termed frutte che scherzano, or ‘joking fruit’ (Attlee, The Land Where Lemons Grow, p.38). Ferrari firmly separated all citrus, even hybrids, into three categories: malum citreum – citrons, malum liminium – lemons, and malum aurantium – oranges (Freedberg, ‘Ferrari on the Classification of Oranges and Lemons’, p. There were also etymological issues as every region had its own names for local fruits (Attlee, The Land Where Lemons Grow, p. Citrus can cross-pollinate between species and frequently mutates, and growers graft different varieties together to perpetuate desirable mutations (Attlee, The Land Where Lemons Grow, p. 291 Attlee, The Land Where Lemons Grow, p. According to both Freedberg and Attlee, citrus is notoriously difficult to classify, even to this day (Freedberg, ‘Ferrari on the Classification of Oranges and Lemons’, p. From the mass of information collected, Ferrari then attempted to classify the many varieties of citrus fruit reported, including hybrids and mutations. Copies of these questionnaires and some of the responses survive in Cassiano’s personal papers (Freedberg, ‘Cassiano, Ferrari and their Drawings of Citrus Fruit’, pp. In the 1630s, together with his friend and benefactor, Cassiano dal Pozzo, Ferrari sent questionnaires to citrus growers throughout Italy asking for details of citrus fruit in their area – names, descriptions, cultivation, propagation, and uses (Attlee, Land Where Lemons Grow, p. From very early on, the golden apples were depicted in art as citrus fruit (Helena Attlee, The Land Where Lemons Grow, p. The title alludes to the eleventh labour of Hercules, which demanded he steal ‘golden apples’ from the Garden of the Hesperides. 49).Īfter this, he turned his attention to De malorum aureorum – ‘golden apples’, or citrus fruit. 38 Freedberg, ‘Cassiano, Ferrari and their Drawings of Citrus Fruit’, p. In 1633, Ferrari published De Florum Cultura, which was notable for both its taxonomical ambitions and its focus on cultivating flowers for ornament rather than medicinal use, and included suggestions for garden plans and flower arrangements (Freedberg, The Eye of the Lynx, p. However his focus seems to have shifted to botany and he became head gardener and horticultural consultant to the Barberini family in the 1620s (David Freedberg, The Eye of the Lynx, p. Giovanni Battista Ferrari’s Hesperides, sive, De malorum aureorum cultura et usu is a lavishly illustrated folio on citrus fruit, focusing primarily on taxonomy, but also covering history, folklore, cultivation, and culinary use.įerrari (1583-1655) was a Jesuit scholar from Siena who began his career as a professor of Hebrew and Syriac. This month’s treasure whisks us away to the seventeenth-century citrus orchards of Italy. Hesperides, sive, De malorum aureorum cultura et usu
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