Sicilian Avocado
The green heart of the island
For over 20 years
We cultivate the future of tropical Sicily.
Today, we are the national benchmark for tropical fruit grown in Italy. Our agricultural supply chain combines direct organic production, territorial identity, and sustainability.
On the slopes of the volcano, in an extraordinary setting, we benefit from unique conditions: a singular microclimate, abundant rainfall, constant humidity, and deep, sandy, naturally fertile lava soils.
It is here, in the heart of tropical Sicily, that the exotic has found its home. Since then, we have continued to do what we were born to do: cultivate with passion, share our daily lives, and connect people and the land.
Pioneers of Sicilian Tropical Fruit Online
Since 2009, we have been selling mangoes, avocados, and other tropical fruits grown in Sicily online, delivering throughout Italy with fast and traceable shipping.
Sicilia Avocado is not just an e-commerce platform...It is an agricultural project born from the land, not from marketing, and its continuous goal has been to showcase and enhance authentic tropical Sicily, with transparency and sustainability
The History of Tropicalia di Sicilia
The roots of Sicilian mango and avocado cultivated on the slopes of Mount Etna.
Contrary to popular belief, the cultivation of tropical fruit in Sicily is neither a recent trend nor simply a consequence of climate change.
The true story of Sicilian avocado and Etna mango has its roots in the last century; the first experimental cultivations date back to the period between the late 1950s and late 1960s, long before these exotic fruits became mainstays on Italian tables.
The heart of this pioneering adventure was the Ionian-Etnean coastal strip, between Acireale and Fiumefreddo, an area now recognised by numerous academic studies as the historical cradle of Sicilian tropical fruit.
These crops were boosted by Dr. Francesco Russo, a researcher at the Experimental Citrus Station of Acireale – CREA, and the unforgettable Prof. Giovanni Continella, professor of General Arboriculture at the University of Catania.
It was they who, with the first introductions of plant material from America and field research, laid the foundations of Sicilian tropical fruit growing.
Thanks to their studies and the unique microclimate of Etna – the rainiest in Southern Italy, with fertile volcanic soils – what we now know as the capital of Sicilian tropical fruit was born.
Andrea Passanisi
Precursor of Made in Italy Tropical
Although the history of tropical fruit farming in Sicily began in the second half of the twentieth century, for decades it remained invisible to the general public.
Sicilian avocado, Etna mango, and other tropical fruit crops were present but neither valued nor publicized. It was in this context that Sicilia Avocado was founded in 2003, an agricultural model that combines tradition, supply chain, research, and innovation.
Then little more than eighteen years old, Andrea Passanisi was the first to truly believe in the potential of Sicilian avocado and tropical fruit cultivated in Italy, realizing that it could represent, alongside historical and traditional crops, the future of Mediterranean agriculture.
Starting from his family lands in Giarre, on the slopes of Etna, he transformed plots partly cultivated with lemons – which he still tends today – and partly uncultivated, into an oasis of organic tropical crops: avocado, mango, passion fruit, feijoa, soursop, and many other exotic fruits.
Tropical Sicily
Andrea’s dream for Italian tropical agriculture
With the brands Sicilia Avocado and, subsequently, Etna Mango and Dal Tropico, he has given shape to a new narrative of the territory, enhancing its pedoclimatic peculiarities and bringing forth an authentic, innovative, credible, and now recognized Sicilian tropical agriculture at national and international levels.
The bridge between agricultural innovation and the European market.
About ten years ago, Dal Tropico was born from a vision: to create a solid and recognizable link between our Sicilian tropical fruit farms and the commercial landscape, both Italian and European.
Today, if Sicilian papaya, passion fruit, lime, and other great classics of Sicilian tropical agriculture can be easily ordered and purchased, it is thanks to the existence of Dal Tropico.
We chose this name with a dual objective: to immediately evoke the exotic nature of the fruits we handle and, at the same time, to proudly assert their origin.
Because all our tropical fruits are 100% Sicilian: born, cultivated, and packaged according to an Italian, certified, transparent, ethical, and traceable supply chain.
With Dal Tropico, we wanted to combine agricultural quality and territorial identity, building a model that enhances the work of our tropical farms, promotes biodiversity, and brings the best of tropical Sicily to European markets.
The tropical sweetness born on the slopes of the volcano
Etna Mango is the concrete expression of the encounter between an extraordinary fruit – Sicilian mango – and an agricultural territory unmatched worldwide, the slopes of Mount Etna.
Since the late 1960s, we have cultivated Sicilian mango in these volcanic lands, giving life to a unique production: it is the only Sicilian mango cultivated at the foot of Europe's highest active volcano, recognized as a World Heritage Site. A place that, due to soil fertility, geological origin, mild climate, abundant rainfall, and ideal humidity, offers unrepeatable pedoclimatic conditions in the entire European agricultural context.
It is precisely this environmental distinctiveness, combined with an entirely Italian and certified organic tropical supply chain, that gives value to the Etna Mango brand. A brand that speaks of quality, sustainability, and traceability, and that acts as a spokesperson for ethical agriculture, respectful of the environment and labor.
Unlike an imported mango, which lacks ties to the territory or information on cultivation methods, Etna Mango represents a guarantee for the conscious customer, who is increasingly attentive to the origin and impact of the products they choose.
For over twenty years, we have been the main players in the Italian tropical market, and today, through this brand, we tell not only a fruit's story but also that of a territory, a history, and a daily commitment that looks to the future with deep roots.
