The agronomical, physiological and qualitative characteristics of 34 representative cultivars of bread wheat belonging to 7 generations (groups) of cultivars produced by Italian breeders over 90 years have been evaluated.Cultivars were grown for three years in replicated trials with two husbandry conditions : old, simulating that in use in the first part of the century, and modern.It was found that there was a reduction of plant height, an increase in harvest index, reduction of the vegetative growth phase associated with a progressive increase of yield potential. With the old husbandry the cultivars did not show a clear positive trend in yield potential, indicating that genetic improvement was largely dependent on or associated with a parallel improvement of growing conditions.The greatest genetic gain was achieved with the last generation of cultivars which, with modern husbandry, produced 830 kg ha−1 more than those of the previous group. This is an indication that breeding is not approaching a yield plateau and emphasizes its major role in accelerating the increase in yield potential. Moreover, modern cultivars have better quality indices than those of the previous groups, suggesting that Italian breeders were able to manipulate the genes controlling protein composition while selecting genotypes characterized by a shorter straw and an higher yield potential.It is concluded that in the present economic and political context where farmers are forced to optimize and probably to reduce inputs, old cultivars may be used in breeding programmes for low input conditions as donors of specific, useful morphological and physiological traits to be incorporated in future cultivars.