Melo Limoncella accession of Cascia
Malus domestica Borkh
RISK OF EROSION High
DESCRIPTION The mother plant was found in the municipality of Cascia (PG), but the variety was once certainly widespread also in other areas of medium and high hills of the regional territory. The presence of the Limoncella variety in Umbria is attested by documents since the first half of the last century. However, the accession of Cascia represents a variant with respect to the classic Limoncella. Its fruit is in fact slightly more elongated and has a color on the face exposed to the sun.
Medium vigor tree, with an open habit. Small-sized fruit with a cylindrical shape, yellow skin, with a medium-small overcolour area of light red orange tones; few and barely visible lenticels.
BACKGROUND The origins and provenance in the region of this accession are not known. The name by which it is known locally connects it to the Limoncella variety. This is a very well known variety (according to some perhaps already at the time of the Greeks and Romans), of uncertain origin, as for some it would be a variety attributable to Campania, for others to Sicily. In any case, it is widely attested and widespread in central southern Italy. For Umbria, the Limoncella s.s. it is attested by several sources. Federico Rossi in his memory entitled “Fruit growing in Umbria. Current status and possibility of extension” </ em> of 1942 reports (page 27) the cultivation of the Limoncella variety in the orchard of the then Royal Agricultural Technical Institute of Todi. While for the Province of Terni he indicates it as one of the most commonly cultivated varieties (page 65). In the Proceedings of the III National Congress of Fruit Growing of 1949, in the memory of Prof. Nino Breviglieri entitled “List by Province of apple varieties spread until 1929, in production or not in production in 1948 and preferences in new plants”, it is reported for the Province of Perugia that the Limoncella ss it is, together with the Renetta del Canadà variety, Conventina, Rosa Mantovana and Annurca, among the most widespread until 1929; that about 1/10 of the apple production in the Province in 1948 is attributable to Limoncella; not indicated as inserted in new plants. In the same memo concerning the Province of Terni it is reported that Limoncella sensu strictu was cultivated since 1929; by 1948 its diffusion had increased and was expected to increase again as it was preferred (together with Abbondanza and Durello) for the establishment of new plants. The accession of Cascia shows numerous elements in common with the Limoncella sensu strictu, to which it can be traced back. However, there are some differences that allow a distinction from this one. It is hypothesized that these differences had not previously been noticed, or that they were not given weight, so much so that people who own specimens of one or the other type invariably call them with the same name as Limoncella. This confusion (or overlap) probably also existed in the past, if it is true that Antonio Castori, in his degree thesis published in 1924 (Fruit growing in Umbria, page 49), in giving an account of some of the local varieties of apple in Umbria, he refers to the Polsella or Polsola Apple: “of medium size; cylindrical in shape, slightly rounded, narrow at the ends, with a greenish yellow skin. It is also called limoncella due to its conformation and can refer to this type “.
TYPICAL PRODUCTION AREA Territory of the Umbria Region.
GASTRONOMIC USE Variety for fresh consumption, characterized by good post-harvest shelf life both in the loft and in the refrigerator.
Texts taken from “Regional Register of indigenous genetic resources of the Umbria Region”.
