"The super millionaire fruits of the Alma Mater": this is how Corriere della Sera headlined years ago when announcing the results obtained by researchers from the Department of Agri-food Sciences and Technologies of the University of Bologna on the cherry tree genetic improvement project: the seven Sweet® sisters, the new varieties named after the children or loved ones of their inventors.
A team led by Stefano Lugli who, starting from old indigenous varieties, the famous Duroni di Vignola, bearers of valuable traits such as sweetness, texture and aroma, has been able to combine these virtues with others, such as beauty, size and productivity, taking them from varieties of American origin.
Below, the report by Bettina Riedel, variety manager of UNIBO, presented at the seminar on cherry variety innovation at Macfrut 2023. Precisely at Macfrut, ten years ago, the Sweet® varieties made their debut winning, among others, the Oscar prize for innovation.
27 Nov 2025
An international research project led by Texas A&M University and involving PUCV aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms behind the health benefits of sweet cherries, focusing on their potential to prevent obesity and metabolic disorders through multi-omic approaches.
23 May 2023
"These are five new-generation varieties,' explains Andrea Bagnolini, Salvi Vivai's Sales Director, 'which we strongly wanted to increase our offer and propose to our growers selections that are more and more performing with respect to their needs.
23 Jun 2026
The study on 0900 Ziraat sweet cherries shows that calcium chloride, glycine betaine and chitosan can reduce fruit cracking to 1.6%, while improving resistance, nutritional quality, antioxidant activity and pre-harvest fruit stability under orchard conditions in trials.
23 Jun 2026
The first PDO picota cherries from Valle del Jerte have received seasonal certification. In Extremadura, the campaign begins with strong prospects for quality and volume, despite rain damage affecting some cherry varieties protected by the Cereza del Jerte PDO label.
