According to greek mythology, when Juno married Jupiter, her dowry consisted of some trees, whose fruits were wonderful golden pomes (oranges and lemons), symbols of fertility and love. Jupiter, worried about thieves that could deprive him of that precious gift, preserved the pomes in a wonderful garden, watched by Nymphes Hesperides, mythical girls who sang beautifully. Bringing these apples was one of the "Labours of Hercules".
The lemon spread rapidly from North India to China and South West Asia, where it's possible to find seventeen different wild species of it. Lemon cultivation reached Mesopotamia; then it was introduced into Palestine by the Jewish slaves once they had been set free. The Hebrews loved lemons so much that they included it in some religious rites, spreading it up to the Mediterranean basin. The lemon was not immediately appreciated by the Romans, perhaps because of the sour and acid flavour of the first varieties. There are no traces of its use up to the arab invasions in Spain and South Italy. Only with the Arab people, infact, was the lemon spread again and the Crusaders themselves brought lemon trees to their country so that they could enjoy the juice of the fruit that had quenched their thirst during the Holy Wars.
The citrus plantations were planted in Spain and Sicily and then they spread in every regions with a warm-temperate climate.
Because of the impossibility of cultivating it everywhere, lemons soon became a precious and refined fruit.