As you travel across the Romagna area, one thing you will notice immediately is how the farming landscape differs from that of Emilia. Alongside the traditional field crops lie vast fields with fruit trees, including trees that grow Romagna's traditional peaches and nectarine.
An essential of every Italian’s summertime repast, this fruit affords a distinctive sweetness whilst being refreshing, juicy and intensely fragrant at the same time.
A hybrid of various types of white or yellow fleshed peaches, these were the first varieties of peaches to earn the riconoscimento Igp (PGI indication) in Europa (1997).
Ravenna and its province were a fundamental starting point for the emergence of industrial fruit farming. The first orchard plantations, which were mostly peach orchards, began to be cultivated in the Massa Lombarda area in the Ravenna province between the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s.
Today, more than 50% of Italian nectarines and 20% of peaches are grown in the provinces of Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena and Rimini, making these lands the cradle of Italian and European fruit farming.
Unlike the Romagna peach, which has a velvety skin, the nectarine (also known as pesca noce) has a remarkably smooth, compact skin. Both fruits are juicy, and sweet and sugary to taste.
Freshly cut, in juices, jams or syrups, peaches are usually eaten at the end of a meal and are perfect in fruit salads or to accompany ice cream and other desserts.