Impiegato nel campo alimentare e farmaceutico, la sua essenza costituisce la base naturale della produzione profumiera mondiale: il bergamotto l’oro verde della Calabria.
In Calabria nascono e crescono prodotti e frutti che non nascono e non crescono in alcun’altra parte del mondo. Qualsiasi dizionario o ricettario ci direbbe che il bergamotto è un frutto, un agrume per l’esattezza, ma in verità non è così. E’ qualcosa di più che un semplice agrume, qui il bergamotto è definito l’oro verde della Calabria e di oro verde qui ce n’è in abbondanza. Per intenderci da questo frutto viene estratta l’essenza che costituisce la base naturale della produzione profumiera mondiale.
Il Citrus Bergamia è diventato, oggi, uno dei simboli dell’intera regione, soprattutto grazie a un numero: 90%, il tasso di produzione mondiale appannaggio della punta dello Stivale.
Il bergamotto, un innesto casuale di cedri, mandarini, limoni e aranci fruttifica solo nella costa meridionale dello Jonio, grazie alla particolarità del microclima e del terreno. Più specificamente è giusto sottolineare che, lungo i cento chilometri di litorale tra Villa San Giovanni e Stilo, questo agrume produce un’essenza così forte, da fissare la fragranza dei migliori profumi del mondo.
Pare che il nome derivi dalla combinazione delle parole “pergamena” e “motta”, ovvero “difesa della pergamena” ma non è esclusa l’associazione con il termine Bey Armudi, cioè “Pero del Principe”, in allusione alla somiglianza con la pera bergamotta, una varietà dalla polpa succosa, acidula e profumata.
La sua prima attestazione sembra si possa far risalire al 1536, quando, in occasione del banchetto offerto dal cardinal Campeggi, in onore di Carlo V, furono serviti, Bergamini Confetti. Un sorbetto composto da una crema aromatizzata con bergamotto fu inventato, poco dopo, a Firenze da Bernardo Buontalenti, per Cosimo dei Medici.
Rifacendosi ai contadini dello Stretto di Messina che, dalla buccia di questo frutto ricavavano un olio essenziale, aromatizzante, purificante e curativo, Procopio dé Coltelli creò una particolare “acqua di bergamotto” che introdusse alla corte di Luigi XIV di Francia. Versailles se ne innamorò fin da subito, dal momento che era un efficace palliativo ai cattivi odori dell’epoca. Contemporaneamente, un mercante novarese, Gian Paolo Feminis, aveva avuto modo di comprendere l’efficacia dell’olio dell’agrume per fissare tutte le altre fragranze, rivelandosi un efficiente ingrediente per la profumeria. Emigrato in Germania, confezionò nel 1680 un unguento, l’aqua admirabilis, da cui nel 1704 si brevettarono le acque aromatiche che presero il nome della città tedesca. Era nata l’acqua di Colonia. Da allora il bergamotto resta uno dei grandi prodotti basilari per la realizzazione del profumo. Il suo consumo fu tale che, a partire dal 1750, la costa reggina vide ricoprirsi di bergamotteti, necessari per andare incontro alla crescente domanda, nell’Ottocento estesa anche al mercato alimentare. Nel 1830, la ditta inglese Twining lanciò il suo più famoso tè, l’Earl Grey Tea, aromatizzato al bergamotto.
Poco dopo l’agrume calabrese fu impiegato anche per la realizzazione de “a Bergamote de Nancy”, una caramella composta di zucchero cotto profumato all’essenza naturale di bergamotto e così fecero molte case di liquori inglesi, statunitensi e francesi. L’industrializzazione del processo di estrazione dell’olio essenziale dalla buccia di bergamotto inizia nel 1844 con l’invenzione della macchina calabrese da parte del reggino Nicola Barillà. Prima di allora l’essenza veniva estratta dalla scorza per pressione manuale, fatta assorbire da spugne naturali, collocate in appositi recipienti detti concoline.
L’idea di mettere a frutto l’agrume creando un vero e proprio bergamotteto si deve a Nicola Parisi, proprietario terriero della costa reggina, dal suo esempio numerose famiglie del luogo, dedite alla coltivazione degli agrumi lo imitarono e tutto il territorio costiero della provincia di Reggio Calabria divenne un grande unico e profumato bergamotteto. Oggi il bergamotto dà lavoro a oltre 6000 persone, le aziende agricole che producono bergamotti, sono qualche centinaio, le aziende più grandi dedite alla sua lavorazione, tutte su un modello artigianale, sono I prodotti del Sud, Patea, La Spina Santa e AranC, mentre nel comparto estrattivo i nomi più noti sono Capua, Parisi e Fascì, a questi si affiancano poi numerosissimi piccoli laboratori a conduzione familiare.
A tutela di questo prodotto c’è il Consorzio, istituito nel 2007 anche se nel 1999 aveva ricevuto la denominazione D.O.P. Ma ancora più radicata nel tempo è l’Accademia Internazionale del Bergamotto, voluta dal professore Vittorio Caminiti e che dal suo primo giorno di fondazione ha sempre lavorato per la valorizzazione di questo frutto, costruendoci intorno il Museo Nazionale del Bergamotto e Il Museo del Cibo, un Centro Ricerca sulla Nutrizione e Tradizione, che hanno il comune obiettivo di promuovere il bergamotto, le tipicità e le tradizioni del territorio reggino. Un gruppo di realtà che fanno sistema intorno a un unico prodotto, fonte di ricchezza ed economia per l’intero territorio, dando slancio produttivo, culturale e promozionale. Ed è proprio grazie all’Accademia che il bergamotto ha fatto il suo primo ingresso in gastronomia e pasticceria, facendolo apprezzare a chef, critici e intenditori.
Dalla cucina il passo alla pasticceria e alla gelateria è stato breve, dalla Torta Nosside al sorbetto al bergamotto si è riusciti a creare un’equipe per coniugare il lavoro gastronomico con la ricerca storica e culturale. Tra le tante attività culturali e didattiche che negli anni si sono succedute, l’Accademia ha anche ideato il concorso gastronomico dedicato a questo agrume, una gara che vede ogni anno la creazione di un piatto a base di bergamotto con il coinvolgimento di chef nazionali e internazionali e delle loro originali ricette per valorizzare sempre di più questo prezioso frutto della terra dei Bronzi. Inoltre per celebrare questo frutto sotto ogni anno si organizza la manifestazione “Bergamotto in Festa”, durante la quale viene fatta la consegna dei mandati di Ambasciatore del Bergamotto.
Tra i primi a essere stati nominati Ambasciatore c’è lo chef Fabio Campoli, un nome di riferimento della cucina italiana e ancora di più della sua divulgazione e comunicazione. Da sempre estimatore di questo agrume, di cui è innamorato e che ci racconta come “una nuova tradizione” della nostra cucina. “L’impiego di questo frutto speciale dagli aromi ineguagliabili nelle più svariate ricette è sempre più di moda. Parlando nel particolare del mio stile di cucina, esso si basa su ricerca, passione e continuità, ma soprattutto sulla curiosità: il bergamotto è infatti uno di quei “nuovi ma antichi” ingredienti che ha tinto la mia biblioteca di sapori con nuove idee per esperimenti gastronomici dal risultato inizialmente inatteso, poi di grande successo”.
Un prodotto su cui si dovrebbe fare maggior cultura e promozione. Visione condivisa dallo chef Campoli, che sottolinea: “il bergamotto merita molto in quanto agrume che rappresenta non solo una tipicità italiana, ma una vera e propria esclusività. Quando in età adolescenziale ho iniziato il mio mestiere nelle cucine professionali, il bergamotto era noto esclusivamente per le sue proprietà cosmetiche, legate all’antico utilizzo del suo profumatissimo olio essenziale. In seguito, il mio percorso di vita mi ha portato ad approcciarmi alla sua vera promozione, avendo avuto modo di conoscerlo meglio attraverso l’incontro con produttori, esperti della sua coltivazione ed anche medici che hanno contribuito ad accrescere sensibilmente le mie conoscenze sul bergamotto, che possiede grandissime potenzialità di trasformarsi in un prezioso alleato sia per il gusto che per la salute”.
A tal proposito, come ribadito al 78° Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Cardiologia (SIC) nel 2017, il succo del bergamotto è ricco di due flavonoidi (esperetina e naringenina), che esercitano gli stessi effetti anticolesterolo delle statine senza causare gli effetti collaterali farmacologici. I due flavonoidi, all’interno dell’organismo, inibiscono l’enzima reduttasi epatica responsabile della sintesi del colesterolo nel fegato. Inoltre il succo di bergamotto è strettamente correlato alla riduzione dei livelli ematici di LDL (colesterolo cattivo) e all’aumento di quelli di HDL (colesterolo buono); in questo modo contribuisce a mantenere i vasi sanguigni in salute e a prevenire disturbi cardiovascolari come ictus, arteriosclerosi e infarto.
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