Our history:
The art of plant propagation is a family tradition for Vivai Milone, now in its fourth generation.
We are talking about over 100 years of history.
Vivai Milone was founded in the cradle of Sicilian nurseries in the province of Messina and has been based in the Lamezia Terme plain for over 50 years.
The Vivai Milone structure covers an area of approximately 35 hectares, spread over 10 different locations between the
municipalities of Lamezia Terme and Curinga.
By combining tradition and innovation, supported by experience passed down through generations, technical know-how
and commitment and a constant desire for further development, Vivai Milone produces certified, healthy and genetically sound plants.
Our mission is:
“Quality production is our contribution to giving agriculture a future.”
The nursery is the starting point of all food chains. So if we start with a healthy and
high-quality plant, we get high-quality products. We produce 60% of certified citrus plants in Italy and
meet the highest quality standards of the European Community.
But not only fruit trees, plants, garden design, micropropagation, and production of ready-made turf.
Milone nurseries want to reach not only Morocco, Croatia, and Spain, but above all
the homes of our neighbors and our entire region. For this reason,
local supply projects such as the “Baby Plant” candy box, the educational farm 4.0, and various social media sections
such as the “Green Café” are being created. It is important to us to be close to as many people as possible, young and old, to inform and educate them
about our values and what agriculture teaches us. It is our teacher, it
teaches us care, waiting, hope, patience, in short, it teaches us to love.
Some figures about our business:
“The nursery is the starting point of agri-food chains: producing quality is our contribution to give future to Agriculture.” This is our company’s mission.
Milone nursery is one of the most important nurseries of the Lamezia Terme plain, an area where the nursery vocation is very strong.
The nursery was founded in Mazzarrà Sant’Andrea, in Sicily, in the 1920s by Nino Milone. Rosario, Nino’s son, along with his wife Maria, moved from Sicily to Calabria Region in the 1950s. Over the years the nursery has developed and expanded, under the stewardship of Nino and Carlo Milone. Today Carlo is supported by his nephews and daughters Rosario, Antonello, Maria Grazia, Emanuela and Barbara. They represent the fourth generation of nurserymen and nurserywomen in the family.
For Vivai Milone “developing quality” means to produce healthy, certified plants.
Milone nursery specializes in the production of citrus, olive, fruit and ornamentals plants. It is officially recognized by Phytosanitary Service of the Calabria Region for propagation, growth and marketing of productions, in compliance with compulsory European rules.
The total area, available facilities and annual production can be summarized as follows:
Nurseries in the ground sq.m 260.000
Conditioned structures sq.m. 4.000
Greenhouses sq.m 1.200
Shelters sq.m. 26.000
Shaded shelters sq.m. 25.000
Screen house sq.m. 3.000
Micropropagation laboratory sq.m. 170
Warehouses and packaging facilities sq.m. 2.000
Citrus plants N° 200.000
Olive plants N° 60.000
Fruit plants N° 180.000
Ornamentals plants N° 30.000
To sustain quality agricultural production in fruit fields, not only requires the implementation of adequate agronomic choices, but it is also necessary to use plants that are certified from a genetic and health perspective.
The health status certification that the Milone nursery obtains to certify our plants are:
CAC Community Agricultural Conformity, the mandatory European minimum certification standards as a baseline
European Certification, Voluntary European Certification, extra level of guarantee
QVI Qualità Vivaistica Italia (Italian nursery quality) Voluntary Italian Certification, highest standards of quality in Europe
QVI Qualità Vivaistica Italia (Italian nursery quality) is a guarantee of genetic and sanitary quality and offers the advantage of traceability all along the productive chain, under the coordination and control of the public authorities - Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (Masaf) and Regional Plant Health Services, in strict cooperation with the nursery associations.
The nursery is a partner of Se.Mi. di Calabria and Co.Vi.P., consortiums of nurseries that have established more than 20 hectares of mother blocks for scions and seeds of Stone fruits, Pome fruits, Olive and Citrus trees.
Our plants are grown and develop under the unique climatic conditions of Calabria and Lamezia Terme plain, characterized by fertile, healthy, irrigated and well exposed soils.
All these features allow the production carried out in Milone nursery to achieve and maintain our burgeoning reputation as a market leader. The attention to detail and notable high-quality standards ensures we are able to satisfy increasing demand from both domestic and foreign markets.
Milone nursery collaborates with several national and regional scientific institutions (CNR, University, CREA, ARSAC, etc..) in order to facilitate a rapid transfer of know-how from research and experimentation to the production phase. We actively encourage continuous professional development of all our staff, particularly those engaged in the plants’ propagation and growth.
“From tradition to Innovation” could summarise the mission of the Milone nursery. We firmly believe that producing high quality, environmentally friendly plants is the essential ingredient which, over time, allows us to respond quickly to the needs of producers and better face the increasing challenges in the global market.
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