AbstractThe composition of 432 samples of bergamot essential oil, absolutely genuine and produced in Calabria using a ‘pelatrice’ (peel machine) during the 1986/87 and 1987/88 seasons, has been studied by HRGC.The results obtained, together with those of 409 samples produced in the 1984/85 season, establish that the quantitative composition of bergamot essential oil (1) shows peculiar and reproducible variations for some compounds during the whole productive season and (2) greatly depends on the provenance of the fruit, the latitude but not the altitude being the determining factor.The ranges of the compounds studied are wider than those observed previously for lemon and mandarin essential oils.The results obtained help in the determination of genuineness and the quality of bergamot essential o