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Bergamot intended for essence extraction is grown in three cultivars, known as “femminello”, “castagnaro” and “fantastico”. The cultivars differ mainly in the appearance of the fruit: the femminello is the most productive and has small, smooth fruit; the castagnaro is a vigorous grower, with larger, rough-skinned fruit; the fantastico is similar to the femminello but the fruit is more elongated, rather like a pear. Nowadays, the cultivar most commonly used for planting new orchards is the fantastico. The different uses of the fruit depend to a large extent on the degree of maturation. The ripe, yellow fruit is particularly suitable for the extraction of essential oil, and is also employed as flavouring; the unripe, green fruit is used in the confectionary industry, especially for making candied fruit, and in perfumery, by extraction of the essence. The unripe fruit which drops off the tree is known as “arancella”. It is grey-green in colour, because scorched by the sun, and can be used to produce liqueurs and for extraction of an essence called either “Neroli” or “Nero di Bergamot”. In this context, the main value of Bergamot lies in the peel and its aromatic profile, from which intense and recognisable essences are obtained.