Enriched with olive oil and lanolin, the 4 products in this Zagara Handbag Gift Set are infused with the lingering essence of orange blossoms combined into a handy travel pack.
With the scintilating bouquet of Sicilian oranges, Zagara is a fresh zesty perfume and part of the extensive Ortigia collection that makes Abrahams Store the home of Ortigia in the North-West of England. Zagara are the flowers of the blood orange trees that grow in the Catanian Plain of Sicily. Introduced by the Arabs in about 850 AD, citrus fruits subsequently became key to the agricultural life of the island.
Why Blood oranges ?
Three different types of blood oranges grow on the island with the redness resulting from the unique geography which combines Mediterranean heat and the cooling snow on Mount Etna.
- The Moro is more oval in shape and has dark red pulp. These are definitely eating oranges, consequently their minerals, low fat and a high citric acid content that makes then good juicers too. Ripening in November it is at its peak between December and February.
- The Sanguinello takes its name from the blood colouration. Like the Tarocco, it is also seeless and very juicy. The fruit ripens in February but can be kept on the tree, consequently its season can be extended until April.
- Known by the locals as the Queen of Oranges, Tarocco oranges are seedless and easy to peel. Unlike other blood oranges, the season for the Tarocco naturally runs through to April.
You can tell how important blood oranges are to the island because the Sagra di Palagonia Festival and others are held annualy to celebrate all sorts of Blood Orange related food and drink.
To find out more aobut the Blood Orange festival at Palagonia click here.
Not to miss; Villa Romano del Casale
Palagonia lies about halfway between Catani and Piazza Amerina (where someone, oops, got us totally lost). To the south west of Piazza Amerina is the Villa Romano del Casale which has probably the finest mosaics in situ from the Roman era, anywhere. Furthermore, when were were there it was very quiet, which made you feel like you had the place to yourself. Super ice creams can also be had just outside the gate. There must be millions of tesserai because the building is huge and every room seems to have a fainastic mosaic in it. To afford that, the owner must have been worth a few sisterces. You can see extensive displays of African animals, business scenes and leisure pastimes from the Ancient Roman world. There are raised gantries to walk on, so you can get close to the mosaics without doing damage to them.
Apparently Louis Réard invented the bikini in 1946 and named it in honour of the nuclear weapon test site at Bikini Athol. However, the evidence of the mosaic below suggests that in truth, the invention of the bikini happened at least 2000 years ago.
Find out more about the Villa Romana del Casale as well as how to get there, by clicking here.
See a video of the mosaics below.
In addition to zesty Zagara, Abrahams Store stocks a wide variety of products featuring Ortigia Perfumes available here or select the individual fragrances below.
