Maria Delizia

Maria Delizia is an exceptional peach variety developed in Italy, at the prestigious University of Florence, by the renowned Professor Elvio Bellini. It was selected with the primary aim of obtaining a premium white-fleshed variety that produces high, commercially stable yields and fruit of uniform size. Due to its luxurious, distinctly sweet, and specific dessert flavor, it is considered one of the highest-quality and best white-fleshed peach varieties in the world.

It is a fully self-fertile variety. It is characterized by an exceptionally high level of self-pollination and abundant flowering every year, so it reliably and stably produces maximum yields in pure single-variety orchards without the need for other pollinator varieties in the orchard. It flowers moderately late and is characterized by large, attractive rose-type, showy flowers whose buds are highly resistant to late winter cold and spring frosts.

The tree is moderately to highly vigorous, with robust and strong scaffold branches that form a well-branched, regular, orderly, and medium-dense canopy. It enters full bearing very early, often producing its first commercial fruit as early as the second or third year after planting. It bears regularly, abundantly, and exceptionally stably every year. Due to its tendency toward abundant fruit set, mandatory strong winter and summer pruning is required, along with mandatory hand thinning of the fruit in early summer, in order to prevent fruit size reduction.

It belongs to the group of medium-late peach varieties. In our region and under continental climatic conditions, it ripens in mid-August, usually between August 12 and 22, around 10 to 15 days after the standard Redhaven variety.

Harvesting takes place in mid-August. The fruit reaches technological maturity uniformly, but due to the sensitivity of the white flesh, harvesting must be carried out extremely carefully and selectively, exclusively by hand and preferably with gloves, in 2 passes, choosing only ideally colored fruit before it fully softens on the tree.

Its fresh-storage ability is moderate, which is standard for white-fleshed peaches. In cold storage, it can be successfully kept for 1–2 weeks. Since it has delicate and soft flesh, it requires exceptional care during handling and packing, because areas exposed to stronger pressure quickly develop brown marks, or bruising, so it is less suitable for long and rough transport. It is packed exclusively in shallow crates in a single layer. It is primarily intended for luxury, premium fresh table consumption on the local market, while due to its beautiful white color and aroma it has wide use in home and professional confectionery, for fruit salads, cakes, creams, and airy desserts.

The fruit is large to very large, with an average weight of 180 to over 220 g, uniform on the tree, and regular in shape, with an attractive roundish-spherical form. The skin is thin, smooth, pale velvety, and covered with fine, delicate, and discreet pubescence. The ground color is creamy-white to light greenish, covered over most of the fruit surface, more than 70%, by a beautiful, bright, and attractive intense red blush on the sun-exposed side. The flesh is distinctly creamy-white, fine and delicate in consistency, very juicy, and melting in the mouth. The taste is premium, luxurious, and full, characterized by a balanced, distinctly sweet dessert note, minimal acidity, and a beautiful, penetrating, and noble aroma. It belongs to the group of true freestone peaches: the stone is medium-sized and, at full maturity, separates from the flesh completely easily, cleanly, and without residue.

It is moderately resistant to diseases. It shows excellent natural resistance of the wood and flower buds to low winter frosts during dormancy. On the other hand, it is highly susceptible to peach leaf curl, Taphrina deformans, and susceptible to Monilinia and fruit rot, Monilinia laxa, in humid and rainy years before harvest, which requires mandatory, professional, and maximally regular preventive chemical protection, including copper-based blue spraying at the bud swelling stage and targeted fungicides throughout the growing season.

Our peach fruit trees are produced on highly compatible, certified rootstocks: vineyard peach seedling, an excellent standard for well-drained, light, and moderately fertile soils, and the modern vegetative rootstock St. Julien A, which successfully controls tree vigor on heavier and wetter soils, ensuring a perfect and long-lasting graft union.