Garbatella Urban Gardens

Last Spring I noticed that people were working in a field down the street from our apartment in Garbatella. They were preparing garden plots. This happened with support from the Province of Rome and the Municipality XI who decided to reclassify some of the green space along the Via Cristoforo Colombo and make it accessible to the public.This is the first community garden to be built in Rome. There are hopes that these initial fifteen plots will be a model of how self-grown organic fruits and vegetables can be available at low cost as well as demonstrating how a community can come together to redevelop abandoned or unused parcels of land. The founders also see the community garden as a place to initiate new social relationships, fostering support networks between families and bridging the gap between the young and older generations.

A scarecrow among the tomatoes.

(You can see the blue water tanks along the fence.)

Peppers and Eggplant

Melons waiting to be ready for prosciutto!

Corn growing in Garbatella

I took these pictures on what would have been my mother's 99th birthday. She was a great gardener.