On 4/1/09 23:27, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:08:30 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 4/1/09 22:09, in article
, "Judith
in France" wrote:

On Jan 4, 9:58*pm, Martin wrote:
On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 13:17:42 -0800 (PST), Judith in France



wrote:
On Jan 4, 9:08*pm, wrote:
On Jan 4, 3:06*pm, Sacha wrote:

But the Italians have a long history of growing food in their 'orto' and
gathering it from the wild, which some do to this day. *There's even a
Madonna dell' Orto. * *I'm quite surprised to read this, Martin because
I
must admit that my impression is different. *I think their ornamental
gardens are quite different to ours so perhaps we can't compare the two.
However, their love food and good, high quality fresh ingredients
usually
leads to good stuff either grown at home or sold in markets, IME.

Here a photo I took last year in Napoli. Like Rose Prince said,
'Naples suburban gardens are planted with produce right up to the
front door. Italian children may not frolick on lawns, but they get to
eat the sweetest tomato sauce'. Happy dreams ;o)

http://cjoint.com/?bewZPFuA1g

The prices are cheaper there than in France. *The cost of food in
France has soared recently. *We had an awful year growing our veg, not
exactly sure why.

I haven't been into Naples, although I have been to Sorrento and Pompeii.
and have driven several times between Rome and Sorrento.

I have always tried to stay in small towns or villages when I had business
trips. In France & Germany I've always noticed gardens full of vegetables.
I can remember other people commenting on the lack of anything in house
gardens
around Rome and Turin. I used Google Street View to try and find nice house
gardens in Milan, I found one garden full of roses and that was it. My wife
and
I watched the programme about Palladio on BBC 4 this evening. Nice houses,
but
boring unimaginative gardens.
--

Martin

I have been to Naples and loved it especially the food. I didn't see
any gardens.

Judith

We skipped out of Naples pdq but saw some lovely gardens around Sorrento. I
don't remember many, if any in Turin but my ex's aunt lived just outside
that city and had a very pretty garden, although she wasn't terribly
knowledgeable from what I remember. She lived in Rivoli in a rather
countrified area - it's so long ago!

I think much of Rivoli has been covered in buildings since then. The old town
is
nice we used to go there for a drink or two after work. When I was in Turin, I
stayed in a hotel in a village about 15-20 miles north of Rivoli.

If I could remember her address I'd email you but she and her husband are
both dead and their son isn't in that area now. I remember we drove past
the Fiat (?) factory on the Corso Francia, I think, every time we went there
and that la Zia had fields around the house. She was terribly into rescuing
feral cats which is probably why her garden didn't get ALL her attention!
But all this was back in the early 70s so I would certainly expect big
changes. In fact, I do remember there was talk of her or my ex-mil, her
sister, buying some land round there but I just don't know that it ever
happened. However, to get back to our origins, my own small experience of
Italian veg gardeners is that they mostly take it very seriously, so I'm
sorry you've found that to be different. I could, perhaps, be that they're
disheartened by the hostile growing conditions they experience outside their
own country?!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)