Dear Diary…

On 17th May 2016, we had an honour to visit and interview Mr Luigi Aceto in Amalfi, the first farmer and ‘biodiversity guardian’ of the Amalfi Coast.

It was a sunny, beautiful day. Mr Aceto is around 80 years old, but he still looks really fast and healthy.

Two more people came. Mr Aceto guided us to a lemon garden. Well, actually, it was not a normal garden, something you have been used to, something looks like a field, but rather a mountain! This mountain was covered with lemon trees, lemon fruit, and the fresh smell of lemon. Lemon trees grow on every mountain in Amalfi Coast, and this is what makes Amalfi unique.

The way to the top was a 200-step stairs-street. He walked really fast. He told us he did that every day as an exercise. During the walk, he introduced us about the territory, the history of the place, how he had become a ‘guardian’. He also showed us a wall build from ancient stones.

We saw a man collecting lemons. It was a tough and somehow dangerous job. The man stood one foot on a ladder, the other foot was on a bough. He used a scissors to separate the fruits from the branches. After that, he carried two heavy baskets of lemons with his shoulders.

Near the top of the mountain is a tree which he told us a landmark. It played a special role in the Amalfi history. We interviewed him for about 20 minutes. He then escorted us on the way back, not forgetting to give us two underdeveloped lemons with unusual shapes as souvenirs.

(Minh Tran)