General info
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Climate
Climate in Italy is predominantly Mediterranean, Alpine in far north and hot, dry in south with rainy cold winters and dry warm summers. There are four distinct seasons (winter, spring, autumn, summer) and large local variations, depending on the latitude (south/north), elevation (low/high), proximity to sea etc. The winter is very cold in the Alps, cold and foggy in the Po Plain and the central Apennines; mild and even warm on the Ligurian coast, the Neapolitan coast and in Sicilia.

Geography
Italy, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea located in the Southern Europe, has a total area of 301.230 sq km (water: 7,210 sq km; land: 294,020 sq km). The 35.2% of this area is mountain, the 41.6 is hill, and the 23.2% is plain. The 51.4% of total area is cultivated, of which 2.6 millions of ha are irrigated. Italy include two main islands: Sardinia and Sicily and a large number of minor islands on which horticulture is important also as a landscape resource and for the large genetic variability involved.

Distribution of Horticulture
The value of the horticultural production represents about 45% of the total agricultural production in Italy. Vegetables (50%), non citrus fruit (20%), citrus fruit (12%), dry nuts (5%) potatoes (10%) and ornamentals (6%) for the horticultural product. Besides that, olive (6% of the TAP) and wine (6,5% of the TAP) complete the whole horticultural products in a broad sense. Italy has one of the oldest and most varied fruit industries in the world, with a very large local germplasm and high technical expertise. Pro-capita fruit consumption stands at about 85 kg, in addition of 35 kg of citrus and 15-20 kg of nuts and exotic fruit. The dominant orchard belt includes a) the citrus district (180.000 ha) in sicily and Calabria, with orange as predominant crop in Sicily, mandarine in Calabria, lemon in Sicily and Campania; B) the olive district (1.200.00 ha) that goes from Puglia, Calabria and Sicily in the south to Toscana, Umbria and Liguria in the central-north area; C) nut crop (almond and pistachio) are concentrated in Sicilia and Puglia (85.000 ha), while hazelnut (70.000 ha) is cultivated in Piemonte, Lazio and Sicilia); D) the stone fruit district (peach, plum and apricot) is very large and ranges from Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Piemonte in the north and Campania, Calabria, Basilicata and Sicilia in the south, with 100.00 ha for peach, 17.000 ha for apricot, 14.000 ha for plum and 25.000 ha for cherry, mainly concentrated in Emilia Romagna and Puglia; E) the pome fruit district is concentrated in Trentino Alto Adige, Emilia Romagna, Piemonte and Campania with 70.000 of apple orchards and 45.000 of pear; F) table grape is concentrated in Puglia and Sicily over 80.000 ha. The cultivated area for cut flowers and ornamentals ranges from 2.500 ha in full field to 4.500 ha as protected cultivation. Cut flowers production is scattered all over the country, but the largest areas for cut flower and ornamentals production are Liguria, Campania, Puglia, Sicilia and Toscana.

Research Thrusts
The main research thrust are the Ministry of Scientific and Technological Research (MIUR) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA).

Organisations / Institutes:
C.R.A. - Research Institute for Vegetable Crops
University of Naples Federico II
University of Florence
University of Bari
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento
Marche Polytechnic University
Italus Hortus
Società Orticola Italiana
University of Bologna
University of Palermo
University of Torino
C.R.A. - Fruit Tree Research Institute
C.R.A. - Research Institute for Floriculture

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