Fireblight in the Po valley (Italy): the monitoring programmes of Emilia-Romagna and Veneto regions1

Erwinia amylovora, causing fireblight, is a very important quarantine pest for Italy. Since the beginning of the 1980s, import of host plants from countries where the disease occurs has been limited and subjected to laboratory analyses. Fireblight was found for the first time in Puglia (southern Italy) in 1990. Following this finding, a national monitoring network was set up in order to find new cases as rapidly as possible. In 1994, the first outbreaks of fireblight were found in Emilia-Romagna. In 1997, a severe epidemic spread throughout this region and the first cases were reported in the bordering regions Veneto and Lombardia. To face this new situation, additional specific local monitoring was set up. This article describes the operational and legislative measures taken in Emilia-Romagna and Veneto to contain the disease in orchards, to allow marketing of healthy plants for planting and to regulate the movement of beehives.