Chinotto, the Sicilian poison

There is an Italian grocery shop near work where I sometimes go to to buy my lunch and say a few Italian words. When I go, I always buy a drink from San Pellegrino, which I usually love. One day this week, I made the mistake to buy their Chinotto, which is basically based on a type of Sicilian orange named chinotto. it could have been called Sicilian poison: it is absolutely vile. On their webpage, it says it has an "unmistakable taste". You bet. It's like drinking a mix of petrol and arsenic, with some citrus flavour to sort of soften it! After my first taste, I knew exactly what it reminded me of and I thought myself doubly fooled: chinotto is also at the basis of Brio Chinotto, a soda made in Montreal founded by some sadistic Italian immigrants. Do not get me wrong: I love Italy and Italian culture, in all its aspects. But sometimes, I find one of its manifestations which I cannot stomach (in this case, literally). Silvio Berlusconi is one of them, so is its Catholic Church, but Chinotto is truly the nadir, the most shameful Italian invention.