Nazareno Strampelli

In 1903 he was chair of agriculture in Rieti, while there he continued to cross wheat varieties and within a few years developed new high-performing hybrid combinations.

His wheat breeding programs achieved the shortening of the growing phase and increasing of the disease tolerance through the reduction of the stem size.

Starting in 1925 he was in charge of a major national program, La battaglia del grano, supporting the increase of wheat production and yield, aimed at ensuring Italian food security and self-sufficiency.

Strampelli named his wheat variety Ardito in honor of the storm troopers led by Gabriele D'Annunzio, who established a short-lived, proto-fascist state in Fiume in 1919-20.

[2] In his final years, he created three new high-yielding and small sized varieties of wheat: S. Pastore, Velino and Turano.