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Nostalgia for yesterday. . . Lessons for today

The Italian Garden Project

The mission of The Italian Garden Project™ is to celebrate the joy and wisdom inherent in the traditional Italian American vegetable garden, preserving this heritage and demonstrating its relevance for reconnecting to our food, our families and the earth.


 
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Featured blog post

 
 
 
 

The Italian Garden Project™

Hall of Honor

 

A space to celebrate our heroes of self-sufficiency and age-old wisdom who have connected us to food, family, and the earth.

 
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The Garden Gallery

 

Take a slideshow tour of some the beautiful Italian American vegetable gardens we visit throughout the country.

 
 
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Archives of American Gardens

Documenting a traditional Italian American vegetable garden

for the Smithsonian Institute’s Archives of American Gardens

 

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Tools of theGarden

In an Italian garden it is not unusual to find tools that have been handed down from one generation to the next - beautiful, weathered works of art. These are tools that know the feel of busy, industrious hands. These are hands that never shy from hard work and are always happiest with a little dirt under their nails.

 
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It’s that time of year when fig growers in cold climates are unearthing or unwrapping their fig trees that have spent the winter underground or bundled in layers of protection to keep them from freezing. I witnessed this annual ritual last wee
The tools found in an Italian American garden are the heirloom treasures of our ancestors. Most have been handed down from one generation to the next, their handles worn from decades of use by hands that never shied away from hard work. These tools s
These little windows into the past are what make these garden visits so fascinating. It’s almost as though they walked right out of the Middle Ages and now they’re right here for us to talk to and learn from. It makes me want to capture e
I had the most wonderful garden visit with two amazing women, Ebe Tognetti and her BFF Maria Brozzo! They live a few blocks from each other in a beautiful neighborhood in San Mateo, California. Both have garden plots at the local community garden. E
An outing to the castle above the village turned into a wild asparagus (asparagi) foraging expedition with two expert guides. My cousins Teresa and Luigi gathered enough asparagus for a frittata for pranzo. Even though it was late in the season, they
A visit with my cousins often includes an outing to the Norman castle above Sant’Angelo d’Alife. This time we stopped first in the village for a brief passegiata, then by car, wound our way halfway up the mountain, parked and continued t
So happy to be with my cousins again! Luigi and Teresa, two of the sweetest people on Earth, picked up my daughter and me at the Vairano-Caianello train station. Always exciting to see my grandfather’s hometown, Sant’Angelo d’Alife,
I ❤️ Italy! I’m happily traveling throughout several regions seeking out the food and gardening traditions that shaped our Italian American gardening heritage. There’s something amazing to see everywhere! I wandered into this vegetabl
Manzo Family Update It’s the height of fig season and the Manzo family’s Jersey City fig trees are producing fast and furiously. Son Frank sent these photos of some of the dozens and dozens that the family has picked from their five tr
I love when I hear Italian words that I haven’t heard since childhood. During my visit to Lucia Manzo’s Jersey City garden, she said “ciambotta” and I got so excited I almost dropped the camera. I was thrilled to hear a word
VINCENZO MANNO Fresno, CA 1924 – 2022 We honor the memory of Vincenzo Manno who passed away earlier this year. The email below and these photos were shared with us in 2021 before his passing by his son Silvio. Vincenzo and his wife Maria, who
What Lucia and Domenico Manzo have created in the middle of the intensely urban environment of Jersey City, NJ is unbelievable! Lucia, 89 and Domenico, 94 work together growing fruits and vegetables galore as well as canning, freezing and sharing i