“Gioia Luisa and the oval of Sorrento”

THE SORRENTO PGI LEMONS

The bright yellow colour and its intense perfume have become the symbol of the Sorrento Peninsula

The Sorrento PGI Lemons
The Sorrento PGI Lemons

Limone di Sorrento IGP

THE FAMOUS “OVAL”
OF SORRENTO, ALSO CALLED
“FEMMINIELLO SORRENTINO”

Since 2000, the “oval of Sorrento” has obtained the PGI Certification, that protects its special features.

This valuable variety can indeed only be cultivated on the territory of the Sorrento Peninsula and on the island of Capri, and it has been unaltered through the centuries thanks to the mild Mediterranean climate and to the volcanic soil, that favours the growth of lemons with a very thick and perfumed skin, rich in essential oils that give to the Limoncello of Sorrento its special flavour.

You can smell the lemon perfume
from there as well, right?

HOW DO WE MAKE LIMONCELLO?

The origins of Limoncello are hidden behind a curtain of myths and legends. Someone says it was born in Capri at the end of the nineteenth century, by order of a local noble woman who wanted to surprise her guests. Someone else states that it has even older roots, placing its invention at the time of the Saracens, when the seamen of Sorrento used to drink it in the morning to warm themselves from the humid and cold raising from the sea, and also to get a shot of courage, before sailing to protect our coasts from the invaders. Others even say that it was born in a monastery on the Amalfi Coast, made using the lemons cultivated by the monks. 
If the origins of this liqueur are still a mystery, its ingredients are surely known worldwide: alcohol, sugar, water and lemon peels, strictly coming from the areas of Sorrento and Capri.

THE PRODUCTION CHAIN

As recommended by centuries old traditions, the recipe of our Limoncello has remained the same over the past 35 years, preserving its original perfumes and flavours. The traditionality of the recipe has later merged with the innovation in our production chain. Nowadays our plant has a productive capacity of 1 million bottles per year, and every step of the production is carefully followed by skilled workers.

HARVEST

The lemons we use for our Limoncello are thoroughly selected by the producers who have been providing us since the very beginning, trusted collaborators who we are very happy to have by our side. The cultivation of the lemons trees of Sorrento is considered a form of art, and its rules are passed on from father to son. The lemon groves on the sea are hidden jewels, jealously preserved by the expert hands of those who take care of them day after day, protecting them from the winter colds and making sure they receive the right amount of sunlight during summer.

PEELING

The peeling of lemons can be both manual or mechanical, and it’s of fundamental importance to produce a good Limoncello. We need to make sure to remove only the flavedo, that thin coloured part that constitutes the skin of the fruit. We only use this part of the lemons because it is the part that contains the higher percentage of essential oils and aromas, giving Limoncello its characteristic intense flavour.

INFUSION

Once we obtain the lemon peels, we proceed by putting them in maceration in ethyl alcohol at room temperature for at least 48 hours, and then they eventually are mechanically filtered. At the end of the maceration process, we mix the obtained infusion with the so called “sugary syrup”, a syrup of water and sugar, to which will be added the alcohol necessary to get the right alcohol content.

BOTTLING

At this point, the Limoncello will be ready to be bottled. Every bottle is carefully washed before being filled with the liquid gold of Sorrento, that is now ready to be shipped in Italy and in the world.

TRACEABILITY
AND QUALITY CONTROL

The land where we come from is the base of our success and we want it to be recognised and valued. That’s why all our production chain is controlled and traceable, to make sure that every bottle we produce contains only the best we have to offer.

Gioia Luisa
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From a thirty years’ experience, Gioia Luisa srl
offers a wide range of its liqueur of “PGI Lemons of Sorrento”,
plus the Limoncello and Rhum Babà, the Limoncello crème
and many more products.

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