“The essence of citrus towards the extension of PDO.” This is the title chosen by the Reggio Calabria Bergamot Protection Consortium to participate in Macfrut, a national and international reference point for the fruit and vegetable sector. Next May 3, in Rimini, at 5 p.m., the precious bergamot will be discussed during a public talk, at the fair (stand B5-D5), in the presence of Ezio Pizzi, president of the Consortium, Paola Pappalardo general and commercial director of Citrus srl company Benefit, Giuseppe Perri consultant of the Consortium and Gianluca Gallo regional councillor for Agriculture. Giovanna Pizzi, well-known food and wine journalist, will moderate the meeting. That’s not all: every day at the fair there will also be several tastings of bergamot products, and there will be numerous appointments to introduce the wonderful citrus fruit to enthusiasts and future consumers. The fruit of health, so renamed for its extraordinary health properties, will be enjoyed in the form of sweets, jams, juices, flavored oil, candies and whatnot. Most importantly, “All Around Bergamot,” the Consortium’s official cocktail, made with gin, juice and bergamot cream, built all around the fruit and to be enjoyed even when the fruit is not there, will be launched and sipped here. Obviously made with only Calabrian products and masterfully mixed by bartender Gianfranco Cacciola.
Beyond the participation in Rimini and Macfrut, in any case, the most important news is that the procedure to amend the specification to include the fruit has been initiated. “Outlined with the Ministry of Agriculture the guidelines to be followed for the recognition, under the auspices of the Consortium for the Protection of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria PDO, of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria fruit, as well as the essential oil,” President Pizzi announced.
The Consortium for the Protection of the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria, considering its importance for the entire supply chain, intends to include the fruit of bergamot among the products protected by the PDO. It has sought the involvement of agricultural trade organizations, the Reggio Calabria Chamber of Commerce and the Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, so that the changes to be made to the specification can be worked out and shared. “Central is the role played by the Chamber of Commerce in coordinating and promoting the initiative, fundamental and decisive is the role played by the trade associations that, having understood the need for the change, have organized meetings in the area to listen to the opinions and proposals of bergamot producers,” they assure from the Consortium. 

Also important as a technical/agronomic contribution is the role of the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, which, through its Faculty of Agriculture, contributes to the drafting of the extended Specifications.
No less important is the contribution of the Consortium for the Protection of Bergamot of Reggio Calabria DOP and the Unionberg O.P. Organization of Bergamot Producers.
The achievement was twofold, first, to be able to prove that climatic variations resulted in a change in the chemical and physical characteristics of the essential oil of Bergamot of Reggio Calabria; the second achievement is to update the edition of ISO 3520 to 3520\2022, also transposed as a UNI standard. In addition, a change in the name from Italian type to Calabrian type was obtained, characterizing even more its production territory, which is historically and inextricably linked to the territory of the Province of Reggio Calabria.
Today the Bergamot of Reggio Calabria DOP has come to constitute a green, multifunctional, exclusive asset of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is an exclusive asset with a monopoly on about 95 percent of the world’s production of the fruit.