The trading of peel
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The trading of peel
Stories of citrons, lemons and oranges
Originating in Palestine, the citron, known in Hebrew as Etrog, is an ancient fruit that has always been used in the Jewish religion to celebrate one of the biggest events in the Jewish calendar, the “Festival of Shelters, or the Feast of Tabernacles” (Sukkot). This fruit became wider known thanks to Jewish tradition, that slowly imported it around the Mediterranean.
It is the citron that became the main element of trade for the Modigliani family.
After the economic collapse that evaporated the wealth of both families (Modigliani and Garsin) at the time of young Amedeo's birth, the artist's brilliant mother, Eugenie, took over the reins of the family. At first, to stemmed the situation by giving language lessons: she opened a school with her sister Laura in 1886, which offered English and French lessons to the Livorno middle classes.
With the proceeds from this business, Eugenie accrued enough to start up trading commerce again: she chose to deal in citron peel.
At that time, Livorno produced about 75% of candied citron exported from Italy, mostly destined for the United States market. Citron peel, then lemon and orange peel, came from the south, but also from overseas, from Greece, Corsica and Turkey.
The papers pertaining to this new, courageous enterprise are the ones still in the Chamber of Commerce archives, dated 1891.