Pumpkin sales grow as Italy embraces Halloween.
Italian pumpkin farmers are registering increased sales in tandem with the growing popularity of Halloween, still largely a foreign concept in Italy, agricultural association Coldiretti said.
The so-called Pumpkin economy has surpassed €30 million in Italy, Coldiretti stated, with this year’s pumpkin season expected to yield a harvest of around 40,000 tonnes, despite challenges posed by climate change.
Italy cultivates approximately 2,000 hectares of pumpkins, divided primarily between the northern Lombardia region (which accounts for a quarter of the market), Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, followed by Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Sicily and Tuscany.
Most of the harvest is destined for human consumption, Coldiretti said, with an average retail price this year of around €2 per kilo, however this can double or triple for peeled and cut varieties.
There is also a growing trend in ornamental and “competition” pumpkins, with some specimens designed for the Halloween carving market exceeding a thousand kilos.
Coldiretti said that in addition to foreign varieties, farmers are committed to preserving traditional Italian pumpkins such as the Cappello del prete, Mini Moscata, Violina and Trombetta, utilising every part of the plant from leaves and flowers to pulp and seeds.
