Since ancient times the pomegranate fruit, rich in seeds of an eye-catching red colour, has been considered a symbol of fertility and an expression of the exuberance of life. The fruit was called so from malum, i.e. apple, and Punicum, i.e. Carthaginian, after the Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder named it so, as the Romans had imported pomegranate from the city of Carthage before transplanting it into Italian soil.
