A king at the court of the Sun King
The Bergamot achieved its first success
in France, in the magnificent setting of Louis XIV’s court at Versailles. A Sicilian gentleman, Francesco Procopio, who was either from Palermo or the province of Catania, presented himself at the palace together with some copper phials containing a mysterious liquid with a very strong scent. The amber-coloured solution was in fact a concentrate derived from a citrus fruit he had discovered after travelling across the Straits of Messina.
This was the start of his good fortune. Bergamot water, as this mysterious liquid was known, intoxicated and delighted all who were present. There were about 15,000 people at the court of Versailles at that time, including nobles, dames, courtiers and servants: a phenomenal audience for an equally extraordinary debut.
In fact, Bergamot water proved to have exceptional cleansing properties, offering a solution for the problems caused by a contemporary ban on the use of water for washing, which the medical profession of the time blamed for the spread of plagues and other infections.
The miraculous liquid lent the royal residence a new and unusual freshness, and a healthy atmosphere more in keeping with the grandeur of the location.
A revolution in scent and taste
Bergamot water quickly replaced the strong, spicy scents.
The “maestri spiritari”
The growth of intensive production went hand in hand…
Signs of a renaissance
The advent of the third millennium coincided with a new…
