A Summer Morning with Venus Flytraps: Visiting Valerio Guidolin’s Diflora Nursery

In mid July 2025, I was on the road before sunrise, leaving Ovada at 6 a.m. for a return visit I'd been looking forward to for a long time. My destination, between Verona and Venice, was Diflora, the Venus flytrap and carnivorous plant nursery founded and run by Valerio Guidolin.

Old Friends

A Return Visit, Years in the Making

Valerio and I go back a few years. We first met in Prague in 2019 at the EEE meetup, brought together by our shared obsession with carnivorous plants. I visited his nursery for the first time in September 2022 and had wanted to come back ever since. Diflora isn't just any nursery. It's one of the largest Venus flytrap nurseries in the world, and Valerio has built something really special.

This time I was welcomed by Valerio and joined by Andrea Vairani, another big flytrap enthusiast. We spent the whole morning talking Dionaea: trading stories, sharing growing tips, and looking at just how much variety there is in this one species.

From left to right: me, Valerio, and Andrea

The Lab

Inside the Tissue Culture Lab

Valerio gave us the full tour, including his tissue culture lab. This is the heart of Diflora, where new plants are cloned and grown in sterile conditions. Rows of jars sat under LED lights, each one full of young plants, some just starting to show what makes them unique.

Two of Valerio's cultivars have made a big splash in the flytrap world: Dionaea 'Fiamma' and 'Carboni Ardenti'. 'Fiamma', with its vivid red color and wispy teeth, has become a collector favorite. 'Carboni Ardenti', named for its glowing, ember colored traps, is just as striking. Seeing both up close and growing perfectly was worth the trip on its own.

We also got a preview of several of his newest cultivars, each with something different that keeps pushing what flytraps can look like.

Happy Growing
Jeremiah Harris
Jeremiahsplants.com