Citrus x sinensex

Robida 11: Orchard/Sadovnjak/Frutteto

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Francesca Farris and I wrote a piece for the publication Robida 11: Orchard/Sadovnjak/Frutteto. Robida is a curatorial group for long term projects connected to landscape and the place of Topolò. It is a project that I look up to so much and I know Francesca shares that same admiration.

We scribbled our ideas about dating and romantic relationships down on paper. The resulting essay is a melding of our minds and experiences — citrus orchards become our model for tending to relationships in rural spaces.

We pick at words in the Italian lexicon like limonare, fare una limonata, fare un chinotto; admire grafted chimeras and ponder the mating radius of honeybees.

The cheeky way that citrus x sinensex is meant to be read. 2025.

You can purchase Robida 11 and all the other publications that emanate from Topolò here.

Excerpt from Citrus x sinensex —

“Love at a distance does not exist without culture – human intervention. That does not mean it is unnatural.”

“Citrus does not exist without culture and human intervention. Grafting is the culture and technique that allows new and interesting fruit to mature.”

“You cannot plant a seed from a yuzu fruit and expect the same plant to emerge. Citrus must be grafted if you want to replicate that variety.”

“So like a gardener trying to play in her garden, we leave home with garden shears looking for cuttings of other varieties to bring home and graft. It feels like we can make magic out of anything if the root stock is compatible and the timing is right.”

A few notes on our process:

We both continued dating and exploring during and after we wrote the piece. It was fun to see the ways in which our relationships genuinely reflected a citrus orchard. We left our process in the springtime and would laugh when we realized the story we wrote was still following the season patterns of dating. The story gave us a framework to observe everything happing in the heat of summer.

Summer was a seedy explosion of chaos.

Options on dating apps dried up and people were clearly trying to merge with their chosen cuttings grafted during the spring. Some grafts stuck and others not so much. During the summer, nothing is taken seriously. It is light and fun. All that pollination leads to fruiting and therefore seeds.

Softly landing back in fall and cuffing season — wow— humans are predictable. We are left with the honey in our hives from a sticky summer and peeling winter citrus once again.

If you get your hands on a copy we would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you to Robida for including us in their 11th edition on fruits, fruit trees, and orchards. Grazie Vida Rucli for reviewing and giving us feedback on our fruity sexual musings and to @francescalucchitta for designing our words on the page.