"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.
03 Sep 2024
Since the first installation in 2014, Rivermaid has been at the forefront of the adoption of innovative Ellips developments. In total, Rivermaid uses 106 lanes with Ellips technology. This is the fourth line with Ellips technology, but the first to incorporate Elifab hardware.
07 Jun 2024
New cherry varieties resilient to climate change were the focus of an interesting episode by Agrilinea TV. In this episode Sauro Angelini, CEO of Agrilinea, interviewed Giacomo Patruno, Luca Fortunato and Marinella Cisternino.
14 Oct 2026
Chile forecasts 727,000 tonnes of cherries in 2026/27, with around 20% of the crop potentially destined for processing. The record harvest could boost supplies of IQF frozen, sulfited and dried cherries as exporters diversify beyond Chinese market and other destinations.
14 Oct 2026
In Armenia, Naughty Orchards grows early cherries on 80 ha using Italian varieties Carmen, Sweet Gabriel and Sweet Lorenz. Following its first major harvest in 2026, the company targets 2,000 tonnes and export markets across Europe and the Gulf, with its own cold chain.
