Walking around the city of Naples you might come across someone drinking a lemonade with his legs open, intent on not spilling it all over himself: it is a custom that is part of the many Neapolitan traditions, and it is really called "open-thigh lemonade“!

Scattered around the city are various kiosks offering this refreshing drink made from sparkling water, lemon And the secret touch...the bicarbonate! The roots of this tradition go back to the ancient acquafrescai of Naples, of which Carolina and Antonio Guerra have been its spokesmen since 1836: heirs to the family Faithful, have carried on this business to the present day without ever leaving the original point of sale in Trieste Square and Trento.

The history of the Neapolitan aquafrescai

As early as the eighteenth century, water, flavored with the taste of citrus various, was stored in the so-called "mùmmare", amphorae at terracotta that ensured its freshness during the torrid summer days as they were transported from one area of the city to another. Many “water banks" opened to Saint Lucia, and they were stalls adorned with lemons selling water rich in minerals which was said to come directly from the sources of Mount Echia. Unfortunately, in 1973 the sources of sulphurous water were closed for reasons of health and public hygiene; during that period, the cholera and were reopened directly in 2000 for only 3 years as they were considered to be dangerous for the ferrosity Of the water that corroded the walls.

The kiosks sold mostly natural water, sparkling water, thewater “vintage", stored in ice blocks, or even water from sea, of river, l'rosewater or the"addirosa", that is, the one flavored with the wine.

Soon there was no longer even a need to use amphorae for water storage as small kiosks took advantage of the Greek hypogea present along the historic center as storage; others, however, identified some clay cavities exploiting its cooling function as was done by the Romans in Pompeii. The oldest water bank, the Guerra's, was also established at an old Greek hypogeum, which is still clearly visible on the floor today, in fact.

But why is it called open-thigh lemonade?

Useful to the digestion, this drink has the particular characteristic of literally exploding out of the glass the moment the bicarbonate comes into contact with the lemon: for this reason, the person who is drinking it instantly spreads his legs wide, preventing it from spilling all over his feet. Ideally, it is best to drink it as quickly as possible so that this does not all end up on the floor. The idea behind the drink is not very far from that of the sarchiapone, a similar drink that in addition involves only cubes of ice, thanks to which the explosiveness of the compound is dampened.

As in every corner, gesture and custom of the city, this tradition also tells a piece of its history, that of humble Naples, the one that "s' sap arrangià" (adapts) with inventiveness.