Trombetta di Albenga

Trombetta di Albenga — 'little trumpet from Albenga' — comes from the Ligurian coast of Italy near Genoa, and it is the rare summer squash that belongs to Cucurbita moschata instead of the Cucurbita pepo species behind virtually every other zucchini. That botanical detour is the entire point of the variety. Moschata vines shrug off squash vine borer, squash bugs and powdery mildew far better than pepo zucchini do, so gardeners in borer country can pick summer squash all season instead of watching plants collapse in July. The fruit is harvested young and cooked like zucchini, but left on the vine it hardens off into a genuine winter squash. It is a climber rather than a bush, and growers commonly trellis it to save ground and to keep the long fruit hanging straight.