Urban Gardening in Early Medieval Italy

"Introduction Why farm in the city? Traditionally kitchen gardens are characteristic features of country life, common in villages and on farms but not a part of city life, where sufficient demand supports commercial markets of even fruits and vegetables and the value of land is great enough that rents for houses are worth more than rents and profits from planted lands. In both the USA and Britain at certain points in the past two centuries, the effects of economic decline have prompted urban farming. The depression of 1893 brought poverty to industrial workers in many American cities: the mayor of Detroit created a 'potato patch plan' to provide quarter-acre plots in allotments around the city to urban families receiving public assistance.1 The modern collapse of industry in Detroit brought its urban population down from 1.8 million (1950) to 1.2 million (1980) to about 700,000 (2012).2 In addition to quelling economic activity in the city, it has left acres of abandoned city lots in decay"--