CREA is Italy’s leading public research organisation dedicated to the agri-food sector. Operating as a legal entity under public law and supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (MASAF), it comprises 12 research centres. Situated in 42 locations across the country, these centres form an extensive national network. Bologna hosts the main seat of the Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, to which the Apidology Group, formerly “National Institute of Apiculture” (established in the 1930’s) contributes with approximately 20 researchers and technicians. The group conducts research on both honey bees and wild bees and has coordinated and participated in national and European projects focusing on protection of bee diversity, health and disease management, monitoring techniques and programmes, quality and characterisation of bee products. The group also supports its research activities with professional training courses dedicated to bees and beekeeping, and can count on a dedicated laboratory, operating in accordance with the UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard, which specializes in bee products and offers both support to scientific projects and as a service to the sector, thus consolidating an integrated and comprehensive approach to the protection of bees and the beekeeping sector. Furthermore, in this context, CREA manages, under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF), three National Registers that bring together the competences of queen bee breeders and the experts in sensory analysis and melissopalynology.
Through these activities, the CREA Apidology Group in Bologna has established itself as a reference point for training, scientific networking, and the advancement of bee research in Italy and beyond.
Founded in 1088, the University of Bologna (UNIBO) is the oldest university in the Western world and is internationally renowned for its academic excellence, research activities, and extensive global partnerships. UNIBO is organized into 31 departments, including the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DiSTAL). Teaching and research activities at the University cover a wide range of fields, including medical, scientific, social, technological, and humanities disciplines. DiSTAL is the largest agricultural department in Italy and ranks among the top 100 worldwide in the agricultural sector.
At DiSTAL, apidology represents a key research area involving several disciplines, including entomology, animal sciences, microbiology, genetics, economics, plant pathology, and fruit science. This multidisciplinary approach in bee research aims to: characterize the genetics of managed and wild bees; investigate the technical and socio-economic aspects of beekeeping, including the characterization and authentication of honey bee products; improve the health status of managed and wild bee populations also through the management of their microbiome and nutrition; promote the use of bees as pollinators, environmental bioindicators, and carriers of biological control agents; and assess the impact of environmental stressors, including pesticides and pathogens, on honey bees and wild bee populations.
These research activities are carried out within numerous international projects, including the Horizon Europe project PollinERA, the LIFE project PolliNetwork, the MSCA-PF BumblePlan and the PRIMA project BIOCATCH, as well as many national projects.