In the past couple of years Roma tomatoes have become very popular due to their broad usage. Their thick skin makes them perfect for cooking and this is the reason why tomato lovers decided to make a hybrid variety called Viva Italia.
Viva Italia is a determinate vigorous tomato that grows between 1.2m to 1.8m (47-70in), in open space, it will stay around 1.2m, but it will make a big bush and take up 60-90cm of space.

The plant is regular leafed and takes up to 70-75 days to mature. It requires the same growing conditions as any other tomato plant does. The plant forms small clusters with up to 7 tomatoes per cluster. 

Fruits are very meaty, sweet with thick walls. Skin is easily peeled if the fruits are boiled for a minute and this makes them perfect for cooking. They can be used as “pomidori pelati”, peeled whole canned tomatoes and in salsas, sauces, paste, and even fresh tomato soup. 

What differentiates this tomato from other “Roma” varieties is its heat and disease resistance. Viva Italia will grow in a large variety of conditions. It will tolerate drought, low temperatures, high temperatures, and moisture. It can get late blight, but it will get it much later than the other Roma varieties. Blossom end rot is almost nonexistent for this variety and other diseases I haven’t noticed on my plants.
Although it’s said that the plant loves heat and is very heat resistant I have to somewhat disagree with this. Yes, Viva Italia likes heat, but not extreme heat. Part of my garden where we plant tomatoes is in full sun from 10am to 6pm. When we have very hot summers our temperatures are over 35°C(94°F) and this means that the garden is baking on more than 50°C(122°F). This kind of heat doesn’t go well with Viva Italia. In this kind of heat, this tomato just refuses to flower. It doesn’t get any disease, but the flowers don’t form and there is only a large bush with no tomatoes. 
This is the reason why I always grow two “roma” tomatoes: Viva Italia and Rio grande. Rio grande loves extreme heat and gives amazing fruits during the heat, Viva Italia on the other hand performs excellent in milder summers and even rainy summers. Unlike Rio grande which is very blight susceptible and gets blossom end rot very easily, Viva Italia will give high amounts of fruits in challenging conditions.

Viva Italia

Rio grande

Another common opinion is that there is no way to store seeds of Viva Italia because it is a hybrid tomato. Storing “Roma” tomatoes is a bit difficult because they are very meaty and have very few seeds per fruit. Viva Italia is a bit more difficult. Being a hybrid variety there is a very big chance you could get seeds that won’t germinate, or you’ll get “parents” plants or even sterile plants. This doesn’t mean you can’t try. I’ve been taking my own Viva Italia seeds for many years now. You’ll have to store more seeds than you’d usually do, sow more seeds and be prepared to get weird-looking tomatoes that have nothing to do with Viva Italia. But once you hit the jackpot and get the perfect plant you can easily take seeds from it and continue taking them each year. This way I store all my tomatoes and 90% of the time I’m successful at saving hybrids. 

Viva Italia is a perfect tomato for gardeners that struggle with diseases and want a vigorous highly producing “Roma” variety but it could be a struggle if you want your own seed production.