I Frutti di Gil, a joint venture born about a year ago from the partnership between the Orsero group and Cerchia Holding of Matteo and Luca Molari, has just celebrated its first anniversary and is preparing for a 2025 full of innovations, under the best auspices. A new warehouse in the Verona area, specifically dedicated to berries, has just been inaugurated, the official launch of the Naike Blueberry Club, three new raspberry selections in testing this year, and a new bucket packaging for blueberries set to debut at the next edition of Macfrut, from May 6 to 8.
I Frutti di Gil and G-Berries, a specialist in breeding and IP management, are actively involved in the Berry Area, which will debut at Macfrut 2025, an initiative driven by NCX in collaboration with the trade fair.
"We are a new player in this sector, but we are ambitious, and what better opportunity than the Berry Area at Macfrut to strengthen our positioning? We believe," said Matteo Molari to Italian Berry, "that a dedicated focus on the berry category within Macfrut can highlight our approach, our products, and all the innovations for this new year. Lastly, our history has deep roots in Romagna, and for us, Macfrut always feels like home."
As the 42nd edition of the Romagna-based trade fair approaches, Matteo and Luca Molari shared with Italian Berry the main innovations for the year that has just begun.
Blueberries: In previous interviews, you mentioned testing new material in Southern Italy. What are the updates?
MM: Blueberries remain the leading reference in the category, and I Frutti di Gil has now joined the Naike Blueberry Club. It is an exclusive new model involving six companies, managed globally by G-Berries. It includes some Southern Highbush varieties selected in Argentina.
We can finally announce that in the fall of this year, commercial trial plots will be planted in Italy. We are now selecting projects in the southern regions, particularly in Sicily, Calabria, and Puglia. The program will start with two varieties: Naike® and Tafì®. The first boasts extremely high productivity and significant earliness, allowing us to further anticipate the Italian harvest window while ensuring excellent shelf-life.
The second features premium size and outstanding flavor. We can already announce that we are also looking at producers in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco for these two varieties.
This period also marks the anniversary of the partnership with Orsero. What’s the initial assessment?
MM: In reality, the project has already completed its first year, and this synergy is yielding excellent results. We are highly satisfied with the progress. The commercial strength of the Orsero Group has enabled us, in a short time, to establish a presence across all major sales channels: markets, wholesalers, and several major supermarket chains.
We have already initiated the first private-label product projects for some of the most important retail chains in our country, and we are also starting to explore international markets. But what satisfies us the most—and confirms the value of our daily work—is that our clients, producers, and suppliers are happy with the relationships we have built.
Speaking of producers, what characteristics are required to become an I Frutti di Gil-branded producer?
LM: The number of producers working with us is growing significantly. At the moment, we are focused on key regions selected for their geographic and climatic characteristics: Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Piedmont, and Liguria. The focus on Southern Italy, where the most significant expansion in cultivation area is taking place, allows us to anticipate production.
For example, in Sicily, we are primarily working with blueberries, while in Calabria, we focus on raspberries. We offer various business solutions, allowing us to collaborate with different producers both in Italy and beyond, adapting effectively to supply chain needs. In general, we prefer partnerships with producers capable of launching scalable projects while maintaining a high-quality standard.
One of the main goals for blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries has been extending the Italian production calendar. Where do things stand?
LM: The idea is, of course, to maximize national production by leveraging our territory, alongside varietal selection and different plant formats that allow us to cover various production windows. Overall, today we can almost cover the entire year with national production, though there are significant differences between species.
For blueberries, for example, the season starts in late February in the South and ends in late August. Raspberries, on the other hand, are mainly grown in Southern regions during winter and peak in summer and autumn in the North. For blackberries, we are working extensively with remontant varieties selected to extend the classic summer production into autumn and winter.
Blackberries and raspberries: There are new raspberry varieties in testing. How is the selection process progressing? And for blackberries, what can we expect from the ‘Blackberry Development Program’?
LM: Speaking about raspberries: the two main varieties we are planting are EasyRock and EasyStar, but we never stop innovating. I Frutti di Gil is part of the Gil Program varietal improvement network run by G-Berries. This year, we will begin testing three new selections with a carefully chosen group of growers, both in the North and the South.
These selections focus on two key aspects: shelf-life and winter production, without neglecting taste. We are extremely optimistic about them and can’t wait to see them in the field. As for blackberries, this is another breeding program born from the collaboration between G-Berries and I Frutti di Gil.
The project is still in its early stages, but promising materials are already emerging. We strongly believe in varietal improvement for blackberries to provide our farmers with material that can make a difference in terms of remontancy, flavor, and fruit shelf-life. At the moment, we are working with some top-tier varieties such as Danna® and Amanda®, and some exciting new selections are on the way.
By the end of 2024, the dedicated warehouse for berry processing in Verona was expected to be ready. Is it operational?
MM: This is one of the most exciting and anticipated pieces of news this year. The warehouse is up and running, meaning our team is now officially in the Group’s new home for berries. We are still finalizing the last details, but we can confidently say that we are very pleased with what is taking shape. The warehouse covers an area of about 1,500 square meters, to which an additional storage area will soon be added.
We have access to all the latest-generation machinery: a complete blueberry sorting and grading line that will allow us to offer even higher quality, along with a heat-sealing machine. We are convinced that this will represent the future of packaging in our country as well. Additionally, we have dedicated cold storage units and processing lines for raspberries and blackberries.
Which regions in Italy show the most promise for berries? Do you have new warehouses in Sicily?
LM: One of the unique features of our project is working as locally as possible—not just in Sicily. For this reason, we are already operational with raspberry and blackberry sorting and packaging at the Group’s warehouses in Molfetta (BA) and Cagliari, which are crucial to the project. In Sicily, the Ispica warehouse serves as our hub for the distribution of blueberries, which will begin around late February.
This extensive network makes our project unique in the national landscape, ensuring AxA service in complex growing areas.
What is the future of distribution formats? What trends do you see?
MM: There is certainly a growing trend towards larger packaging sizes, with increasing demand for 250g formats and blueberry buckets up to 500g. As I Frutti di Gil, we want to highlight some upcoming innovations: heat-sealed packaging formats, which we consider to be more sustainable and capable of adding more value to the product. We will also introduce a new heat-sealable cardboard format and an exciting innovation in blueberry buckets, which we can’t wait to showcase at Macfrut.
Barbara Righini
