// Lemon

"Around Lake Garda square pillars in states of abandonment loom here and there like sentinels. These remains are most numerous on the slopes west of the lake, in places forming colonnades on stone-faced terraces. They bear witness to an unusual adaptation that permitted the successful of exotic fruit. Around this lake people created the northernmost zone of commercial citrus growing in the world.

Lemons and citrus were grown in monumental pavilions, locally called "giardini" (gardens) because of the extraordinary care given to each plant. At the lake Garda the temperature in higher to winter falls below zero degrees for circa twenty days and for the rest of the season temperature remains plus +4-+5 degrees. When cold weather arrive in November gardeners cover the sides and the top to enclose the trees completely.

Glass and wood panels fill the spaces between pillars, and board lay on top of the lattice work forms a roof. In his Italian Journay in 1786 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ecstasized over the colorful citrus fruit on the terracedhillsides at Limone sul Garda, a sight that inspired his famous verse: "Kennst du das Land wo die Citronen bluehn?".