aroma is one of the essential factors for evaluating fruit quality, and the volatile constituents in mini-watermelon fruits were here determined by a headspace-solid-phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method (headspace solid-phase microextraction-gc-ms). the plants, citrullus lanatus [thumb.] matsum. and nakai cv. minirossa (cucurbitaceae), were cultivated in pachino, sicily (italy) under greenhouse conditions. the fruits were collected in two different production years. sixty-eight volatile compounds have been identified and quantified; among these, the impact aroma compounds are also included. the volatile compounds have been identified by linear retention index, mass spectra, standard injection and reference data; the quantification has been carried out by the standard addition technique. the main compounds were (z)-3-nonen-1-ol, (e)-2-nonenal and (z,z)-3,6-nonadien-1-ol, which are characteristic volatiles in the cucurbitaceae family.