Golden Fruit : A Cultural History of Oranges in Italy.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (220 pages)
- Toronto Italian Studies .
- Toronto Italian Studies .
Cover -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: How to Peel an Orange -- 1 Fruit of the Spirit: Health, Salvation, and Catherine of Siena's Candied Oranges -- The Ambivalent Status of Early Modern Fruit -- Holy People and the Introduction of Oranges in Europe -- Sweet and Bitter Flavours in Catherine's Orange Letter -- Catherine's Recipe for Candying and for Holiness -- 2 The Fruit of Love: Citrus Symbolism in Pontano and Basile -- Oranges as Symbols of Love in Renaissance Culture -- Pontano's De hortis Hesperidum and the Praise of Campania -- Women and Fruit in Basile's "The Three Citrons" -- Citrus Fruit and the Literary Dignity of Fairy Tales -- 3 The Fruit of the Womb: Ferrari's Maternal Images of Citrus -- Pregnancy and Metamorphosis in Botany and Literature -- Fruit, Women, and Monsters in Early Modern Europe -- The Classification of Citrus Monsters in Hesperides -- Ferrari's Citrus Myths of Origin -- 4 Strange Fruit: Violence and the Sacred in the Economy of Citrus -- Oranges and Wealth in Early Modern Times -- The Ambivalent Value of Oranges in Sicilian Folklore -- Sacred Oranges and Immigrant Stories -- Violence and the Sacred Oranges of Rosarno -- Conclusion: The Colour of the Golden Fruit -- Appendix: A Chronology of Oranges -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Colour plates follow page 86.
Through close readings of key texts, including spiritual writings, fairy tales, and a botanical treatise, Golden Fruitexamines the role of oranges in Italian culture from their introduction during the medieval period through to the present day.