THE EUROPEAN AWARD CROWNING THE PEACHES OF VERONA
White-fleshed peaches, yellow-fleshed peaches or nectarines: the pride of the province of Verona for two thousand years
“Now you know how many kinds of peaches we are surrounded by and how easy they are to grow.”
Agostino Gallo in ‘Le vinti giornate dell’agricoltura e dei piaceri della villa’
This is how the best-known agronomist of the 16th century marvelled at the luxuriant Verona peach trees, which Pliny the Elder, a few years after the birth of Christ, had already celebrated as noble, nutritious plants or the ‘apple with fuzz’, as the sweet fruit was called in ancient Rome.
As early as the beginning of March, the Verona peach trees wink at meadows and streams, ready to draw fruitful nourishment from the sun and soil. While their branches are still bare of leaves, there are some already preparing their festive attire: a wonderful garland of iridescent pink. It is an early tribute to the mild seasons of Italy’s largest lake, which is thus coloured in pale apricot, flesh-pink and sugared tones. A spectacle that enriches the soul and gladdens the heart. It anticipates the sweetness of the fruit, the large red-orange pomes the Verona shore is famous for.
From Lazise to Castelnuovo del Garda, from Bussolengo to Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, to Pescantina, Pastrengo and Valeggio: the peaches east of Benaco have an intense colour and juicy flesh, a perfect balance between sugar content and acidity made possible only by the unique position between warm hills and the temperate stillness of the lake.
Fruit of precious nature and prodigal care
Genuine quality, respecting nature and its surroundings
“To maintain these trees, they are affixed atop quinces, or rather, on almond trees. But when they ripen, their top branches are pruned including those that cross each other in the middle. The branch resembling the big finger is severed from the tree and laid upon the ground; so that it takes root first, before it grows tall allowing all the other branches to shoot from it. (…) Only then to replant each peach tree when it is no more than a finger thick and place it in the pit for a long time like a vine, advancing it on the branch above the earth so that it becomes a main branch. And in this way, it will last a long time because of the many roots it makes.
For centuries, patient hands have woven wicker into the tops of the branches to protect the buds from the rigours of winter. They tended, hoed and fertilised, carefully considering each pruning, welcoming the beneficial insects while rejecting the harmful ones. They assessed all the needs of the peach trees, finally blessing each fruit. So for centuries, come summer, drawing on their experience, farmers examined the older plants that were close to dying. They would then graft a twig onto the young plants, thus preserving the ancient lineage to this day. Such is the devotion to this crop that the precious Garda and Verona peaches have always won over the finest connoisseurs in France and Germany, and even those as far away as in Russia and the Far East.
New, very strict regulations make them even more special and valuable
For almost a hundred years, there has been a roll of honour for Verona’s peach farms, but over the past century Verona peaches have also featured in international shows and exhibitions, competitions and trade fairs, as well as at award ceremonies and associations. Today, the Verona peach PGI, regulated in 22 specific varieties, is one of the first fruit products from the Veneto region to be granted the important Protected Geographical Indication by the Ministry for its quality and tradition. An accolade that makes the ‘beautiful, succulent, flavoursome and sweet-tasting’ peaches the precious product that, together with jams and preserves, graces the most sophisticated tables of the continent.
“It is a cultivation system that has been honed for centuries (…) and with it, the cultivation of the precious fruit is still prosperous, profitable and revered’, we read in the pages of ‘La provincia di Verona’, which, in 1904, announced the decision to give the local fruit a well-deserved high profile. Today, in order to be able to boast this noble and certified origin, it must meet strict requirements of shape, colour, texture and flavour, as well as precise indications of maturity and proven origin. There are 17 municipalities where they can be produced and the process must be rigorously documented in great detail. A handful of producers are listed in special registers and the peaches grown on their land can carry the PGI mark.
Planting systems, winter pruning techniques, the degree of illumination and aeration of every part of the foliage, but also manual fruit thinning, controlled grassing of the soil, water balance: all this, combined with old-fashioned pest control techniques, low planting density, strict conservation and carefully controlled packaging ultimately enables the few farmers who are committed to eco-friendly production processes to produce the king of peaches.
From the backdrop of Lake Garda to the oils of Mantegna
Peach blossoms have always been glorified by poets and painters. Fascinated by their rosy purity that seems unreal; in the setting of Lake Garda they find the perfect material for songs, panels and canvases.
Casting their gaze on the intense blue of the lake, the artists immortalise never-ending springs of rare beauty with peach blossoms.
These peach trees are indebted to Lake Garda and its fluvio-glacial soils for creating the ideal conditions for them to grow and flourish. Only here do the morainic hills provide a layer of fertile soil (no more than 40 centimetres deep) resting on the ancient gravel and sand banks.
A characteristic that’s almost impossible to find for peach trees, which, cradled between Mount Baldo and the Garda mountains, enjoy the added blessing of a climate that is always mild, rarely under 10 degrees below zero even in the harshest of winters. A miracle of natural and botanical perfection that is impossible to reproduce, making these places the encapsulation of unattainable qualities.
The rest is history: from collective memory to the Renaissance paintings of Mantegna, the peach is in the area around Verona like the favourite and long-loved daughter, for good reason the ambassador of Italian quality in the world. The pride and joy of the local people, it represents a uniqueness that needs to be preserved and held up as an example of the perfection of nature and the gifts of the lake.
Endless health benefits, perfect for the well-being of the skin
From the Orient via ancient Persia, the peach, a plant symbolising immortality, found its way to Greece with Alexander the Great and then to the Italian shores. This noble fruit has had such a long journey before reaching Lake Garda.
Here, even the simple flowers were an ancient secret of well-being. Its leaves are a panacea against excess blood sugar. Its beautiful flowers are dried in glass or porcelain containers as a secret cure to help you rest at night and soothe stomach problems. But it is above all the fruit of the peach tree that hides unique qualities.
The fleshy, fragrant peach contains an exceptionally high concentration of moisture and energy. Peaches are perfect for maintaining the body’s hydrosaline balance and help reduce the absorption of fatty acids and cholesterol. In addition, vitamins B1, B2, PP, C and A, along with iron, sodium, potassium and calcium, combine their cleansing properties to ensure healthy tissue, skin and hair.
Invigorating secrets and natural rejuvenating properties in a fragrance that is good for the soul
Its healing principles, ranging from antimicrobial properties to immune response and function, are most effective in restoring radiance and well-being to the skin.
With VITÁLITAS, Secretum Gardae has chosen the peach for the energising action of an exceptional anti-ageing product. Alongside the unique postbiotic effect of Lactobacillus Ferment, our experts have studied the perfection with which nature has always blessed this fruit.
The result has been amazing. The ancient cultivation of the Garda peach tree, combined with a selection process of unparalleled rigour and care, has made it possible to create the best concentrate from the purest, certified organic peaches. And even its scent has proven its success.
In VITÁLITAS, the delicate peach scent, which is light and pleasant, never irritating or heavy, is the result of long research and careful balancing. The aroma of this marvellous fruit is the result of its natural alcoholic terpenes, valerenic acid, caprylic acid and acetaldehyde: positive molecules that give vestigial, beneficial feelings of well-being. Something that Secretum Gardae set out to reproduce as their crowning achievement with a serum that has unparalleled benefits. A fresh breath of air from the lake will thus rest on your face, like a peach blossom in the warm Italian sun.
