Future of Italian fruit tree collection in doubt

The Pomona Botanical Conservatory, a 10 hectare botanical conservatory in the Apulia region of southern Italy that is home to approximately 800 varieties of fruit trees, faces an uncertain financial future after a failed funding bid.

The conservatory was established in 2004 by the Belloni family and is run as a private concern. But without public funding, the family is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the vast collection, which includes some extremely old varieties of sour cherry, fig, pear and apple.

Star attractions include Ficus Luv, a very rare black fig from northern Italy, an unusual sour cherry known locally as visciola, which flowers late in the year when last year’s fruits are fully mature, and Api étoilé, a pear variety with prominently ribbed fruits, thought to have belonged to the ancient Roman Appi family. ( For more details of the collection see this article from the latest Bioversity’s Newsletter for Europe (76 KB).)

A recent attempt to secure regional funding to promote the rich biodiversity of Apulia through a tourism initiative would have offered a lifeline to the conservatory. However the bid was unsuccessful:

“Support for genebanks is crucial,” said Jan Engels, Acting Director of Bioversity’s Regional Office for Europe, “and I hope that the Belloni family succeeds in protecting the future of the collection. Climate change and new pests and diseases make it all the more important to conserve this biodiversity.”

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For more information, contact:
 Vanessa Alam