Tortarello

Antica Varietà Culturale

History
Tortarello is a variety of non-sweet melon Cucumis melo L. var. flexousus (Stepansky et al. 1999). In Italy it is known by the name of tortarello, presumably for the shape of the fruit which is elongated and twisted, flexuous or serpentine. It is probably the first form of cultivated melon, as some paintings of ancient Egypt attest. Melon with long fruit is the most cultivated cucurbitacea species in ancient times up to the Roman period (Janik et al. 2007). Tortarello has often been considered a cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) or a vegetable of hybrid origin between melon and cucumber. But the morphological characteristics leave no doubt as to whether the plant belongs to the Cucumis melo species. (A. Manzi - M. Tanno Tortarello Abruzzese 2015).
In the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga Park, the first indication of this variety came from the network of farmer keepers of Farindola, in 2014, locally called "black tortello" or "black watermelon". The internal section of the fruit is more like a cucumber than a watermelon.