PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Viva Italia'

I was very excited to try this plant when I found out about the variety, as I had heard it makes a great sauce. I tried it potted and had serious issue with bloosom end rot and began applying calcium chloride which had helped and the uneffected tomatos were very flavorful. I am currently trying them in the ground for my fall tomatos(along with Big Biy, Beefsteak, and Cherokee Purple) some have stared to ripen, however I have had an issue again with "B.E.R." and it is driving me nuts. None of the other plants seem effected just the Viva Italia, don't know if I will attempt them again.

I love this tomato for sauce, canning, and cooking. Short plants bear perfect fruits heavily. I have not had any problems with disease or blossom end rot with this tomato. Few blemishes, no cracks. It produced well in a great tomato year (good weather) and also in a terribly rainy summer. Firm and heavy in the hand, they are meaty. You get a lot of poundage per plant unlike some paste tomatoes that tend to be hollow. The taste is great too. I can taste a huge difference in sauce made with these as opposed to roma or la roma tomatoes. Grew them the last 2 years and will be growing them again this summer.

When you grow this one, better set aside some time to make sause. Huge numbers of fruit tend to ripen all at once. First bunch tends to be the biggest crop, subsequent ones more manageable. Very good flavour and juicy enough to be used for any purpose. The fruit does hold well on the plant with no cracking. I grow this every year.

This is my workhorse paste; flavor is better than other hybrid pastes I've tried. It does get a fair bit of blossom end rot (early season watering problems), but otherwise is great.

BIG winner. It is still setting fruit in the TX heat, very productive and tastier than Roma.

It does seem to be getting bothered by leaf problems...fungal stuff, worse than some others.

I grew this variety and Roma tomatoes last year and this one was much better for making sauces (the fruits had a fuller shape than the regular Romas). I plan on growing them again this year.

Ditto to everything madman said and then some! I love this variety; very meaty, very productive, great flavor for eating fresh as well as for canning.

'Viva Italia' is an excellent Roma-type paste tomato that bears heavily. I have had good success with it for the past two years. It has good disease resistance, and good fruit set. I highly recommend it as a canning/freezing/sauce tomato.