The traditional watermelons from San Matteo della Decima - as well as the melons of the same area - are grown in the fertile Samoggia Plain and owe their special taste to this potassium-rich land.
As far back as 1303, Pier De’ Crescenzi, founder of the Bolognese agronomy among other things, spoke of them in his treatise “Ruralium Commodorum Libri XII”, giving not only gudielines for cultivation, but suggestions for different ways of eating them.
Various documents dating back to the early 20th century are kept in the historical archives of the Consorzio dei Partecipanti of San Giovanni in Persiceto, a community of people who assigned, for many centuries, the land to the participants to the Consortium.
The typical production territory extends over an area of about 5,000 hectares in the lands of San Giovanni in Persiceto.
The watermelon came to Europe in the early centuries after 1000 AD, during the Crusades, although the name pasteca indicate a more recent arab origin. There is no certainty about the origin, but it is believed to originate from Egypt along the Nile valley.
The traditional watermelon from San Matteo della Decima was included in the National list of Traditional food products.
An annual event was created In 1993 in order to enhance the production of the watermelons (and of melons): the festival Cucombra. Sagra del cocomero e del melone, taking placee between late June and early July in San Matteo della Decima, located at 8 kms. from the chief town of San Giovanni in Persiceto.
Telephone: 0039 051 821134
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Consorzio Cocomero e Melone tipici di San Matteo Decima (rag. Martini)
c/o Consorzio dei Partecipanti - Corso Italia, 45 - 40017 San Giovanni in Persiceto (BO)
Ph. 0039 051 821134 - fax 0039 051 825088
