Azienda Vivaistica Frutticoltura Orvieto di Giulio Leonardi

Recovery and reproduction of native fruit-bearing varieties registered in the regional varietal registers. The work begins with the study of the regional varietal registers of each of the three regions bordering the territory of Orvieto: Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany, in which each regional body (3APTA in Umbria, ARSIAL in Lazio and ARPAT in Tuscany) lists the native varieties .

The next step in the study of the regional varietal registers is done by selecting the organoleptic characteristics of the fruits described in the numerous publications available: only the varieties that I believe may be of greater interest are those with the best organoleptic characteristics (sweetness/acidity ratio, aromaticity, hardness of the pulp, shelf life, etc.) are chosen for recovery.

At this point begins the difficult work of recovering the plant material which, in part takes place in the area by searching for plants of the specific variety and in part is carried out by contacting the aforementioned regional bodies: these are in turn custodian growers and in some cases can supply the plant material (scions) with which to reproduce the specific varieties.

Once the scions have been obtained, we proceed with grafting onto wild rootstocks and we wait for the plants to be ready for sale with bare roots in pots in the first useful season.

There are no related processing, catering or sales activities, given that, at least to date, the only plant sale activity is aimed at individuals or small companies that make personal use of the fruits obtained from the purchased plants. Part of the company is currently undergoing a conversion to the production of native fruit, which will take three or four years before it can also start selling fruit.