The selection of over 4,000 individual plants, all obtained from the cross between the two most prized Italian hazelnut varieties—“Tonda di Giffoni” and “Tonda Gentile Romana”—the result of extensive genetic improvement work, led to the development in 1983 of the new hazelnut cultivar Tonda Francescana®.

The numerous initial crosses and subsequent selection were carried out by the research group led by Prof. Agostino Tombesi. This group included Prof. Daniela Farinelli and Mirco Boco, all working at the Tree Cultivation Research Unit of the University of Perugia’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences.