Landscape And Change In Early Medieval Italy: Chestnuts Economy And Culture

This article discusses how the European chestnut tree and its woods have been used as an environmental history tool to study the transition from the Roman to the medieval world in Italy. The author integrates evidence from botanical and literary sources to show how fluctuations in the size and location of Italian chestnut woods have changed over time. This study reveals how the popularity of the European chestnut tree and its wood changed the economy and culture of medieval Italy.

This innovative environmental history of the long-lived European chestnut tree and its woods offers valuable new perspectives on the human transition from the Roman to the medieval world in Italy. Integrating evidence from botanical and literary sources, individual charters and case studies of specific communities, the book traces fluctuations in the size and location of Italian chestnut woods to expose how early medieval societies changed their land use between the fourth and eleventh centuries, and in the process changed themselves. As the chestnut tree gained popularity in late antiquity and became a valuable commodity by the end of the first millennium, this study brings to life the economic and cultural transition from a Roman Italy of cities, agricultural surpluses and markets to a medieval Italy of villages and subsistence farming.