Love and passion are synonymous with the brand values of Verona company Cherry Passion. Their cherries are marketed under the company’s own name brand, Cherry Passion, and their tomatoes with the Couri Rossi trademark, available in Dutch vine tomato varieties Comet and Success. “We are currently looking for a partner in Spain to develop our brand with summer vine tomatoes”, affirms Pezzo. Although the season is tough for Italian cherries, Cherry Passion manager Stefano Pezzo notes that the Verona area is doing a little better than the rest of the country, as this season has kicked off with good quality fruit, despite achieving smaller calibres. “We’re going through a bad patch: on the one hand, consumption has dropped and, secondly, the production costs are too high for the farmer”, explains the Cherry Passion Manager, who thinks that one way to improve the region’s position is by seeking higher calibre varieties which are better suited to the area. Investing in more covered growing areas for produce to avoid dependence on climatic variations is another alternative considered by Pezzo, who also manages Fruittemprese for El Veneto and is a board member of flagship Verona company Bragantini.