A unique history for more than 100 years
Since ever a family of farmers
Since ever a family of farmers initially dedicated to animal husbandry. Lelli agricultural company was founded from the initiative of the two brothers Giorgio and Ubaldo, who over time also took up the cultivation of vineyards and orchards.
Despite the two World Wars and their youth in the “Gothic Line”, the two brothers remain linked to their origins and, thanks to their business skills, in 1946 they bought their first land on the hills of Imola, in Borgo Tossignano. Here, in addition to raising animals and growing vegetables, they began to plant the first orchards and vineyards.
In the late 1950s, Giorgio was joined by his eldest son, Alfredo, and together they worked to expand the company, with new vineyards and the cultivation of peaches and strawberries. From the beginning, the focus was on technical innovation, installing the first irrigation systems and focusing on fruit packaging and grape vinification to obtain excellent wines, bottled and sold in northern Italy.
At the end of the seventies Alfredo increasingly took the reins of the company, expanding the agricultural network with new land. He first plants persimmons and kiwis and then renews the apricot variety, keeping a high technical level with drip irrigation and intensive planting.
At the beginning of the nineties, viticulture definitively gave way to fruit growing, also thanks to the purchase of new land.
In 1994, his nephew Stefano joined the company, remaining faithful to the family tradition as well as dedicated to innovation: machines were introduced to process the fruit and cold rooms for its preservation. The first electronic calibrator for processing will be put into operation in the year 2000.
This expansion also continues in 2016, with the purchase of other lands, the introduction of organic production techniques and the production of nuts. But interest also turns to the environment: thanks to the creation of a corporate network of sensors, territorial monitoring and intelligent management of meteorological data are activated, as well as mechanization and irrigation 4.0.
In 2023, a new photovoltaic system will be installed to give the company a greater sustainability footprint, making this aspect the central element of its business.
In 2010 Alfredo passed the baton to Stefano
2 photovoltaic systems are built to produce electricity for the company’s needs, so that the company is more ecological and reduces the consumption of fossil fuels.
The warehouses were then further expanded with the construction of a cold room and a latest generation electronic sorting machine.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola Regional Park
Mixing tradition and innovation, it is committed to care for the territory, so that nature, in turn, can take care of the crops. This translates not only in the attention paid to cultivation methods, but also in the transmission to the others of values such as soil protection, agricultural development based on typical, quality productions linked to food and wine traditions.
The company has believed in technical innovation since the 1950s: from the first irrigation systems of the immediate post-war period, they have added photovoltaic systems, which since 2010 have been used to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.