Amalfi Lemon Experience

The Aceto family has grown lemons on the Amalfi Coast for almost two centuries and is now on its sixth generation. They show their terraces on Via delle Cartiere, in the Amalfi valley, with visits from March to October.

Who they are

The family history told on the website begins in 1825, when an ancestor, also called Salvatore Aceto, bought a small estate in Ravello. The years of greatest foreign trade were from 1930 to 1938, and after the Second World War the family became the largest lemon producer on the Amalfi Coast. To set themselves apart from the big producers of Calabria and Sicily they bet on the sfusato amalfitano, the elongated, aromatic lemon typical of this coast. Today the company, Amalfi Lemon Experience S.r.l., is run by Salvatore Aceto, who worked for years in accounting and returned to the land in 2013, encouraged by his father, Luigi. The estate follows ICEA-certified organic farming rules. Salvatore guides the lemon-grove visits and Ramona Avitabile takes care of the cookery classes and food experiences.

What they offer

At the centre of everything is the guided visit to the lemon grove, the Lemon Tour, in shared and private versions, with departures at 10:15 and 15:00 in the classic format. From there you can extend it with an aperitivo, a lunch on the estate, a limoncello class or a cookery class with lemon. The cookery classes are also offered separately, shared or private. The family has a small museum of rural culture and crafts, and also runs the Amalfi Monumental Garden, a garden a few steps above the centre of Amalfi. The experiences run from March to October.

The website does not give the length of each visit, the size of the groups or exactly what the tasting includes, so it is worth asking when you book if you are short of time.

Meeting points

The shared experiences meet at the estate itself, at Via delle Cartiere 59, about a 14-minute walk from Amalfi cathedral along a gently sloping street. The private ones meet in the centre, in a small square on the main street between Via Cardinale Marino del Giudice and Salita dei Patroni, five minutes from the cathedral, and from there visitors are taken in an electric vehicle to the lemon groves of Salita Chiarito. There is no parking at either point: the centre of Amalfi is a restricted-traffic zone, so the practical thing is to arrive by bus or by boat and walk. The website does not say how many steps the walk along the terraces involves.

Bookings and languages

Lemon-grove visits are booked with Salvatore Aceto on +39 334 877 0229, also by WhatsApp; cookery classes, with Ramona Avitabile on +39 338 293 6509; and everything can be requested at [email protected] or from the website. Travel agencies book by email. The website links to booking and cancellation conditions that we have not been able to consult, so it is worth asking for them when you book. The website is in Italian and English; it does not say whether they guide in Spanish.