Varietal characteristics

The Madernassa pear is a variety typical of Piedmont that takes its name from the small village of Madernassa, in the municipality of Vezza d’Alba, a few kilometres from the city of Alba, in the heart of the Langhe and at the gateway to the Roero. It is here, near the Prunotto Mariangela farm, that this variety has found the ideal conditions to thrive.
The Madernassa mother plant, grown at the Gavello farmstead, was cut down in 1914, when it had already reached an age of about 130 years, with a trunk circumference of 2.60 metres and a productivity of over 25 quintals. This cultivar is believed to derive from a natural cross between the Martin Sec variety and a wild pear tree, from which it inherited its robustness and rusticity.
Madernassa is very present in the gastronomic tradition of Roero, especially during the autumn and winter months. The tree is vigorous, resistant and very fertile, although older plants may be subject to alternating production. It blooms in mid-early season and has the peculiarity of being a parthenocarpic variety, i.e. capable of producing fruit even without seeds.