What are Italian bees?

Italian bees are a subspecies of Apis mellifera ligustica. Very popular with beekeepers, they are the most commonly sold honey bee globally. The bees originally come from the Italian peninsula.

Italian bees were first brought into the United States in 1859 and soon proved to be a favorite bee stock with American beekeepers. The bees are known for their longer periods of brood rearing and building strong colony populations in the springtime. They are less prone to diseases and less defensive when compared to German bees, and Italian bees are also great honey producers. The bees are lightly colored compared to other honey bees.