Large Garden, Small Town
By Victoria Caswell
Although mountains and trees surround Cagli, cobblestone roads, little cars, and fast motorini dominate the space that isn’t taken up by ancient buildings. Houses and apartments are so close you can lean out the window to talk to your neighbor. Covered with cobblestone, the main piazza seems to an American more like a parking lot than the center of town. However, as you look more closely, window boxes adorn the exterior walls, and balconies have miniature gardens. A slight breeze fills the air with the faint smell of flowers and herbs.
Despite living in an urban environment, gardens and green space are very important to Italian households. Concetta Arseni, a Cagli teacher, says although most Italians live in an urban environment, having fresh plants in the house is vital. She says she loves the urban way of living because she feels like she’s in the center of the community and everything is so close.
As a teacher, Arseni says she loves passing on her knowledge of gardening. Last year she started teaching gardening in her class because she believes it’s important for children to learn to care about the ecosystem. She has three children of her own, and she has already started showing them how plants grow and yield fruit. She grows basil, parsley, onions, and tomatoes in her garden and thinks her neighbors do the same.
“On Wednesdays [at the market] there is always a vendor who has plants to bring home to put in bigger pots,” she says. It is because of the availability of so many plants she thinks there must be a huge demand for them.
Arseni grows all her plants on her balcony and brings them inside her apartment when the weather gets cold. This way she can have fresh vegetables and herbs year round. Since houses in Cagli are so confined, most people have gardens like hers.
As one walks toward the western outskirts of Cagli, the scent of fresh lavender and wisteria increase dramatically. Here Romano Romanini claims to have one of the biggest gardens in Cagli. In historical Cagli, he says, gardens are very similar to his, except most are smaller. He also claims it's also one of the most carefully looked after, thanks to his wife.
"But don't tell her that," he laughs.
Romanini says he and his wife, Maria Coltilde Renzetti, planted their garden because they like having privacy as well as a large place to entertain guests.
The garden began when the Romaninis moved into the house in the 1970s. It was inherited from Renzetti’s family, who have owned the house since the 19th century. The original garden contained mainly edible vegetables including eggplant and tomatoes. The Romaninis rethought the function of the garden when they began renovation on the 2,200 square meter space.
"The purpose [of the garden] was to produce food, to grow lettuce and tomatoes," Romanini says. "We introduced changes, and we love privacy. It began to change year after year." He admits his wife has done the majority of the work in the garden because he has spent most of his time working as a geologist. While he was working, she planted the flowers and fruit trees with help from other women. He says although he wasn’t there for most of the process, he likes observing fruit trees growing season after season.
Video by Kevin Pauly
The garden contains 15 lemon trees, including traditional lemon trees as well as many different varieties of lemons. One type of lemon tree, the bread lemon, only produces one lemon a year because it is difficult for the bees to pollinate only one tree. Another type looks more like a chili pepper and is 12 to 15 centimeters long. The trees are so fragrant, just touching the leaves gives your hands the smell of citrus for hours. There are also grapefruit and orange trees, but the oranges are too small to eat. And there is khaki, a type of tree that produces an edible fruit like an apple without seeds.
"When the khaki is ready, we eat a lot of it; but since it's a diuretic, you can't eat more than three or four a day," Romanini says. "It tastes very good."
Nearly everything in the garden has a use, he says. Like other Italians, he grows herbs for cooking. The Romaninis also grow mint, white anise, sage, persimmon, nun thigh, lavender, and rosemary. Although lavender isn't used for food preparation like other herbs, it is used in closets and dressers to protect clothes because it is a natural insect repellent. White anise is used to give flavor to roast beef.
There is also an oak tree that was planted about 35 years ago when the Romaninis first moved in.
"The oak lives very long," Romanini says. "It will continue to live long after I'm gone. Oak is a symbol of strength and longevity."
Because he spent so many years as a geologist, Romanini likes to work in his garden. From his cellar, he can see the underground levels and identify the soil that is beyond what we can see. He says several hundred years ago, his garden was a river, and beneath his garden the ancient materials that were left over show the evidence.
"Little stones and clay brought by the river make the soil rich and fertile," Romanini says. "It's good for growing edible plants."
"I feel relaxed," he says. "There's no traffic. It's a silent place." Romanini says he loves the house, and is very proud of its rich history. He lovingly jokes that he married his wife for the house.
Web production by Lauren Goodspeed
