Page 112 of When Love Gives You Lemons
She wraps me in the tightest hug.
For a few moments, I sit alone with Sienna and Nonno in silence.
Everyone is crying and clapping, even as the band leader starts the music.
The Coven and Nonna beckon everyone to the dance floor. Everyone pairs up quickly: Topher and Sienna, Monroe and Tyler, Matty and his dashing Italian date, Nic Jr., Mom and Dad, Aunt Francesca and Vincenze (which is hilarious); Benny drags a lavender-clad Cam up to dance and elicits what looks like a smile from him; even Jenni Lee and Trav who haven’t done anything but fight since the yacht day are getting down.
Then I look up and see him.
Fielder Lemon, and it’s love at first sight all over again.
Is it possible to fall in love with the same person over and over again?
In one exquisite movement, he’s off his chair, and I lose him behind servers and family. I’m on my feet, searching for him, needing to get to him.
Where is he?
The crowd parts and there he is, radiating charisma beside the lemon tree arbor.
His nose grazes mine. I wrap my arms around his waist, liketwo lemon trees growing together, intertwined in each other’s branches.
“What’s next?” he asks as the music swells.
I spin him around on the dance floor and dip him backward.
Our lips meet.
Everyone cheers, and though it’s not for us, it feels like it is.
EPILOGUE!
Or Prologue Depending on How You Look at Endings and Beginnings.
Precisely Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days Later
(But Who’s Counting?)
@LemonAtFirstSight 8-1
Views: 3.3M
1.2M
CAPTION: Part 1 of 3. Support environmental conservation efforts in Amalfi, Italy, and help the Avello Family Lemon Groves using donation links in my bio #FoodForChange.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: Have you ever seen a lemon the size of a human head? Welcome to “Fielder Takes on Amalfi, Italy, and Learns Just How Much Impact Lemon Farming Has on Tourism and the Local Economy, and How Climate Change Has Rocked This Area,” a three-parter you don’t want to miss.
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ll know I travel all over the US Northeast reviewing restaurants and eateries, holes-in-the-wall and undiscovered gems, but I recently got the opportunity to go to Italy. The Amalfi Coast, in the Campania region, just south of Naples, is renowned for its incredible seafood, hand-crafted pasta, and its use of the Sfusato Amalfitano, a lemon you can only get in this region, and let me tell you, it’s so magical and delicious you can eat it like a hand fruit, giving new meaning to my classic expression “take a bite!”
Unfortunately, Amalfi and incredible farms like the Avello Family Lemon Groves have been severely impacted by global climatechange—from temperature shifts to extreme weather, from rising sea levels to erosion to a lack of water and damage to the coastline. The change to the area’s biodiversity has had an impact on their way of life, and a big part of that is in the growth of their world-famous lemons.
Over the course of this three-part series, we’re going to do a deep dive into the history of the Avello family, with interviews from Niccolò Avello himself in Part 1. Did you know the Amalfi lemon is designated as an IGP—Indicazione Geografica Protetta—which means it’s a unique crop that grows in only this region and is specific to the unique farming methods here. In other words, it’s rare and distinct and unmatched. The Avello family is the founder of an association designated to the protection of the Amalfi lemon. We’ll also explore just how unique their lemons are, and how their family and all farmers in the region are experiencing difficulties in adapting to how climate change is eroding their livelihoods, increasing stress on the already backbreaking work of manually harvesting the lemons and other fruit grown in the special volcanic soil of the mountains here.
In Part 2, we’ll explore the Avello farm, its beauty and farming practices, and dive deep into the food of the region, showcasing the brilliant local chefs, from Isabella Avello to private chef Vittoria, and yours truly even gets his hands dirty making pasta.
In the final part, we will take a look at how to adopt and implement sustainable agriculture practices and conservation efforts, organic disinfestation in farming and how extreme weather patterns andchanging temperatures present unique challenges, and why it’s crucial we take a stand to protect this region at all costs.
Verdict? The Avello Family Lemon Groves in Amalfi, Italy, was not only a life-changing experience where I learned to let my guard down, trust myself, and the place where I fell in love again; it’s a place where I learned the importance of conservation firsthand, from affected families who built the tourism we know today. It’s an important ecosystem and economy suffering from the seemingly irreversible impacts of global climate change. As a citizen of the world, an Italian, and an “influencer,” it’s up to me to spread awareness, not just promote an unrealistic view of what many would consider paradise, because while it is a stunningly beautiful part of the world, it’s also dying, and we need to be part of the remedy. It’s the least I can do. To quote Isabella Avello, “Once you lose something forever, it’s gone.”
