A piccolo gioiello nel centro storico di Santa Maria del Cedro…
A little jewel in the historic centre of Santa Maria del Cedro…
One of the sweetest encounters you will find when visiting the historic centre of Santa Maria del Cedro is when you come across a surprising little hidden treasure, revealed behind a door that makes you feel like you’re entering a modern-chic lounge room with a touch of antique charm.
The walls are lined with the most beautiful packaging, delicately embellishing the walls, nooks and angles with tones of light green and pink. This is the store of Marco & Francesca. An admirable couple who have brought to life a beautiful little laboratory where they transform figs and cedro into delicious products that can be consumed all year round, keeping tradition and bringing forward a family legacy.
Cedro is a citrus fruit, unique to the Calabrian coastline where the Vera Italia cultural experiences with charming locals take place. At the core of these experiences is one big ambition: to help traditions continue.
The unique part about this fruit is that dissimilar to its citrus fruit friends, the cedro has no juice. It has a very small part of fruit in the centre but its true flavour and fragrance come from its peel! The people of the coastline of the Riviera del Cedri have created all sorts of simple and creative elaborations to transform this fragrant fruit into a tasty treat.
If you’ve been following along on these dream-chasing escapades and travel extravaganzas, you might remember our encounter with Franco — a person I affectionately like to call the ‘Willy Wonka of Cedro’ for the wild and wonderful creations he prepares with the fruit.
When I met Franco, he shared his dream with me: that cedro would one day become the symbol of this beautiful (yet incredibly underrated) Calabrian coastline, just like the lemon is for the Amalfi Coast. Let’s help Franco make this dream a reality! Tell your friends: let’s make cedro the symbol of Calabria and come visit to try these tasty creations yourself!
As always in these encounters of ours, I hope that within these recounts, you will be left with a glimmer of hope, an oomph of inspiration and the courage to take on that little dream you’ve been carrying around in your pocket. Let’s do this!
When I first met Marco and Francesca, I visited them in this incredibly chic and cosy storefront setting, described above, where their packaging is as beautiful as their story.
As we got to chatting, Marco shared with me that all this was thanks to a dream of Francesca’s late father. He wanted to cultivate figs that are native to the area and cedro fruit. In the middle of the rows of fig trees, his dream was to setup a big long table to host convivial evenings where strangers became friends and their harvested fruit was transformed into delicious bites to savour.
Unfortunately, before being able to realise this dream, Francesca’s father was tragically killed in a fatal traffic accident. From then, together with the support of her husband Marco, friends and family, the most beautiful story emerged from this family tragedy where everyone chipped in to help them realise her father’s dream.
Today, Opificio Calabria is a truly beautiful reality with a heartwarming memory at its core. I’m sure Francesca’s father has the biggest smile up in heaven, looking over all that they’ve created.
If you’re travelling to Italy and planning to visit our wonderful Vera Italia Culture Creators, visit one of their magical evenings under the fig trees which usually takes place from June until September.
If you’re planning to come outside of this period, you can plan a visit to their charming store and enjoy a tasting of their various products made with the fruits of the land, all wrapped up in some truly enticing offerings here.
