The Lemon Festival
Sagra dei limoni
The lemon festival in Monterosso is on Saturday May 20th this year.. The celebrations will be in full swing over the weekend and there will be a competition for the biggest lemon and also the best dressed shop window.
The Lemon festival is a celebration which demonstrates just how important this beautiful scented citrus fruit is to the area. Used for so many recipes that Liguria is renowned for, such as Limoncino, Lemon Cake, Anchovies marinated in Lemon, Lemon Gelato, Lemon Cream, Lemon Jam and much more.. The beautiful lemon trees line the streets in Monterosso, not only are they very pretty but are also very efficient to shade the little garden areas from the sun. During the weekend of the Lemon Festival the streets are decorated with a lemon theme and stalls are also set-up in Piazza Garabaldi selling all sorts of wonderful goodies made using lemon.
Lemons are also one of the key ingredients at The Cinque Terre Cooking School and we have our own Lemon Orchard, thanks to Jonathan’s Grandad who takes a lot of time and effort to make sure that his lemons are the best.. Rest assured no pesticides are used and each lemon is nurtured and grows with love in the warm sea-breeze and the Monterosso sunshine.. If you come along to one of our Cooking Lessons, Jonathon will be happy to take you to the lemon orchard where you can pick lemons to use for your lesson.