The tromboncino courgette is one of the many varieties of squash grown for food in family gardens. Its cultivation, in a greenhouse or in open air, is mainly carried out in the plain of Albenga and in its hinterland and in other locations in the areas of Savona and Imperia.
It owes its name to the elongated shape of the fruit and to the fact that, growing spontaneously lying on the ground without braces, it tends to twist 360° like a trumpet. The apex of the enlarged fruit (where the ovary is located) contributes even more to giving the idea of a trumpet.
As we know it, the “trumpet (tromboncino)” is not twisted since its most suitable form of cultivation is on a pergola: when the fruit grows it tends to elongate downwards, therefore when harvested it is rectilinear or almost.
The harvest takes place when the flowers open, when the courgette is more conspicuous and is more tender for raw consumption.