 Deeply rooted in the past to be able to face the future. Rodi has lived through moments of fervent work, tenacity and constant commitment, all this to build a better future in the indefatigable path of mankind.
It has always been considered the city of gardens and green citrus groves, that stretch down up to the sea, representing the richest natural resource admired by tourists who visit the region eager to enjoy the natural marvels of our land.
"The Northern coastline linking Rodi and San Menaio rises above the sea in a series of gentle green hills. This is the most delightful and enchanting area of Gargano, where orange trees bloom filling with their scent the wide valleys and charming hilltops covered by a perennial emerald mantle dotted with countless huts". That is how the Vico-born agronomist Giuseppe Nardini, professor at the School of Agricultural Science in Portici, nostalgically describes the view he admired when he was a child.
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It can be derived from the Angeloni Report that the prosperous citrus industry produced 100 millions of fruit average per year (about 150 thousand quintals). That same year the census showed there were 804 hectares of citrus trees "all with permanently irrigation" and already since the second half of the seventies (1870) the Rodi-Triestine Isidoro Tomas had commercial links with the United States of America and therefore Serafino Gatti could state at the beginning of the century that "citrus products within free maritime trade is the treasure of our regions".
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Rodi, particularly famous for the steady production of lemons, teemed with trading activities and life. The most industrious and lively area was the "marina". The quality fruit of the coastal "gardens" for the foreign markets were gathered in casks, skilfully manufactured and packed in transport boxes finely decorated with labels and lace paper.
In the Rodi citrus groves, however, there were "compagnie" (parties) each made up of 18 people- one "giardino" (garden) chief, one "du m'ntone" (heap) chief in charge of the heaps of collected fruit, six young men in charge of transporting "sporte" (bags) and "cuffine" (girls who "ornated" fruit), three to cut "pedicine" (pedicles), one to count, three "scapatrici" that is girls who using "f'rritte" (measuring gauges) selected the fruit according to sizes, three "ncartatrice-'ncassatrice" (wrappers-box packers) who wrapped fruit with flimsy paper and packed them away in boxes.
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Boxes were then carried on donkey back to the "barracche" (goods-in-process storehouse) where about 60 people did a second fruit selection on the "filatorio" (counter) and manufactured the "casse d'r'mballete" (boxes for export).
Finally the party of dockers carried the product from the storehouse to the ships.
The enthusiasm that accompanied the boost in allied activities - timber shipments arrived to make transport boxes, luggers crisscrossing the sea (only at San Menaio there were four ships sailing off every day carrying citrus while other four arrived bringing also valuable goods) and the rise of new ideas and techniques introduced by Sicilian experts from Paterno- made that corner of Gargano, characterised by "a powder-fine sand beach among endless citrus groves, truly enchanting gardens" (Bertamelli) be considered like a small El Dorado.
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 Il Gargano
Il Gargano e colore, natura, arte, storia e tradizioni. E' un susseguirsi di borghi pittoreschi aggrappati alle rocce e degradanti verso il mare che custodiscono gelosamente chiese, torri e architetture moresche. E' l'ultimo gioiello della natura italiana.
Il fascino del Gargano sta nella ricchezza di paesaggi diversi e nella varieta di ambienti che si rincorrono ininterrottamente.
La natura e superba: mare azzurro, magiche grotte scolpite dalla pazienza del tempo, candide spiaggie, pini odorosi, macchie di verde. Il litorale e un fantastico susseguirsi di scorci tra i piu suggestivi di tutto il Mediterraneo.
E' un mondo unico, particolarissimo sia per la vegetazione, sia per la fauna. E' il regno della biodiversita a distanze di pochi chilometri, si trova una serie di ecosistemi fantastici: isole, colline, mare e lagune. Rappresenta appeno lo 0,7% del territorio nazionale ma detiene il 40% dell'intera flora italiana e il 70% degli uccelli nidificati sul nostro paese.
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