overwintering lemons the Italian way

[kiwicoops]

When I worked in Italy 20 yrs back farmers there grew lemons in enormous terracotta pots with the branches trained onto a willow frame like an ice cream cone. They would put the plants away into a dark unheated stone shed for the winter, most of the foliage would fall off, then in spring they would re-shoot. They did however have very hot summers to ripen the wood and they would wind in new growth or prune to keep them open at the center but tightly fitted to the cone frames.