EVOLUTION AND CHALLENGES OF PERSIMMON PRODUCTION IN ITALY AFTER ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF CULTIVATION

The first Italian persimmon orchards were established at the beginning of the 20th Century in Campania Region (Provinces of Salerno, Napoli and Caserta). Since then, persimmon cultivation spread and developed differently in the south and north of Italy (namely in Emilia-Romagna Region), reached a yearly production of about 250,000 t in the years 1940-1945. Since then, the trend of production decreased to 70,000 t in 1960 and 50,300 t in 2011. This paper explores the changes in the production of persimmon in Italy taking into account cultivars, and rootstocks, propagation techniques, planting distances, and training systems (from vase to palmette), pest control and postharvest (from early stages to current practice). The environmental, human, technical and economical factors which affected the evolution of this species in Italy are reported. Past and present research activities and breeding programs carried out in Italy on persimmon are illustrated.