Bittersweet Symphony E
From historic fruits to Monaco's first national spirits: the craft of La Distillerie de Monaco
Written by CARRIE DOW Photos provided by LA DISTILLERIE DE MONACO
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very January, the principality of Monaco begins a harvest that has been happening since the House of Grimaldi took over the tiny nation in 1297. It’s something visitors might overlook during the slower tourist months of winter — the annual harvest of “bigaradiers,” or bitter oranges on centuries-old citrus trees that line the city’s narrow streets.
A BITTERSWEET HISTORY It's a harvest that La Distillerie de Monaco founder Philip Culazzo knows well. That’s because he opened his distillery using Monaco’s agricultural past to make products from a county not known for producing much of, well, anything. In a place more famous for
scenes of immense wealth, like the mega yachts lined up in the harbor or celebrities exiting from luxury cars in front of the famous Monte Carlo Casino, Monegasques, as locals are called, come from surprisingly humble origins. “From 1297 until probably the middle of the 1800s, the sole driver of the economy was agriculture,” explained Culazzo. “There were citrus fruits. There were olives, fish, subsistence kind of farming. The crown taxed the farmers on their produce. That was where the crown’s money came from.” He also explained that Monaco was a much larger territory then, some 100 square kilometers that included the French cities of Menton and Roquebrune on the Italian border where most of the farmland was. Then throughout
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