A four year trial was conducted in a highland river valley of South Italy to assess the yield potential of burley tobacco under constraints of a limited growing season. To broaden the inference base the field layout included the combinations of three cultivars (Burley 21, KY 17, and VA 586), three nitrogen rates (0, 150, and 300 kg/ha), and two time intervals between topping and stalk-cutting (15 and 30 days). The mean response for the characters studied was markedly affected by year to year variation. Nitrogen effect was very low and limited to the 150-300 Kg/ha range for cured yield, in consequence of other growth limiting factors, and to the 0-150 kg/ha range for crop value, because of the detrimental influence on price of the highest rate. Alkaloid levels increased with nitrogen as expected. The time lag between topping and harvesting showed no effect on yield, as potential gains of green leaf were more than offset by losses in the curing phase, owing to the failure of upper leaves to complete the cure. Delaying harvest, however, improved price index at lower leaf positions in all years and at all leaf positions in one year, and increased the alkaloid content of cured leaves by about one percentage point on average, while decreasing slightly the strip yield.