Agricola Bellia produces Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco all year round

"It was 1969 when our father Elia started cultivating his first own hectare," explain brothers Bellia, currently the managers of family business "Bellia Claudio".

Photo taken by Tom Moggach: Claudio Bellia, who manages the company with sons Damiano and Francesco.

Buying the land was an important stepping stone for the founder. This is now the second generation of producers, working on 100 hectares in the Cappella di Scorzè area (VE).

Bellia Claudio specialises in the production of early and late Radicchio Rosso di Treviso IGP, green and white Asparago di Badoere IGP and Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco IGP.

In the photo: Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco. It was recognised as a PGI product in 1996. Leaves have a cream white colour with red to light purple streaks.

This area is particularly suitable for radicchio cultivation because of the soil.

"The production process is both complex and fascinating," explains Damiano Bellia (in the photo).

Radicchio Variegato di Castelfranco, for example, is a cross between Radicchio rosso di Treviso and endive. It is placed to ripe in tanks just like late radicchio to make the leaves become sweeter. Then the outer leaves are removed, the head is placed in lukewarm water and opened by hand.

Badoere is instead the area producing high-quality asparagus with a strong yet not bitter taste with excellent organoleptic characteristics.

"Our flagship product is radicchio, and I can say we have done some excellent work, especially for radicchio variegato di Castelfranco, which we manage to produce throughout the year."

"Transplants are carried out between late June and early September for winter produce harvested from August to January. Then, between January and May, we sell the stocks placed in cold storage units during the winter."

While the radicchio campaign comes to an end, the Badoere IGP asparagus one is starting. The flavour and characteristics of asparagus varies depending on the soil. The produce will be available until late May.

"The high quality of our asparagus is guaranteed by the fact that the produce is grown in an area rich in water. We are surrounded by seven rivers, including the Sile. Our produce is tender as the soil does not stress shoots."

All produce is processed in-house. Finished products are obtained following specifications that respect food and processing area hygiene regulations.

"For the past two years, we have been setting aside part of the produce for processing. We make marinated late radicchio and marinated white asparagus but our new ranges are also very popular. They include: radicchio and soft fruit jam, radicchio sauce and asparagus and tomato sauce in the traditional and hot versions."

"We have been commercialising the fresh and processed produce directly for the past three years. In particular, last year, we organised many promotional activities in local supermarkets, so demand has increased."

"We are among the main producers of Badoere IGP asparagus and have established strong business relations, which we have managed to maintain thanks to the professionalism and punctuality of our deliveries. We supply local retailers with our fresh produce and also sell our processed products to the H&R sector."

"We are growing. This year there were no problems and the weather helped us. We are however very worried about the brown marmorated stink bug, which can affect production and weaken the plants. The problem is that there are no antagonists, so insects spread quickly."

"Anyway we remain rather optimist, we believe this is the right attitude for this sector, which requires great passion but is often affected by the unpredictability of the weather and market."

Contacts:
Azienda Agricola Bellia Claudio
Via Tito Speri, 98
Cappella di Scorzè (VE)
Tel.: (+39) 041 446067
Cell. (+39) 328 6977897
Email: info@belliaclaudio.com
Web: www.belliaclaudio.com