School Gardens: Where to Find Them in Italy

Why plant a garden at school?

Having a vegetable garden in the classroom means teaching the value of food, respecting nature's rhythms and understanding seasonality. It is a resource for introducing children and young people to the themes ofhealthy nutrition and environmental protection. Practical experience also improves classroom climate and strengthens transversal skills: collaboration, responsibility, and planning skills.

Educational value

A garden entrusted to children is a comprehensive educational laboratory, combining natural sciences, environmental education, active citizenship, and creativity. It's a hands-on approach that teaches children to recognize the value of vegetables, fruits, and therefore food, and to understand the care and resources required to produce them, and why they shouldn't be wasted. Growing, harvesting, and consuming what they've grown strengthens a conscious relationship with food and the land. By involving families, volunteers, and the local community, the garden creates a bridge between the school and the local area and helps build a genuine sense of community.

School gardens in Italy

There are well-documented networks, regional projects and local initiatives.

The main national network is the one promoted by Slow Food with the project Slow Food Gardens at School, active for over twenty years and present in all Italian regions. According to the organization, over 400 school gardens in Italy are supported by the Slow Food network, which provides teacher training and dedicated teaching materials. Alongside the national network, many regional and local governments promote calls for proposals and initiatives to fund and promote school gardens.

Northern Italy

• Lombardy (Milan). The Region It has published calls for tenders for the creation of educational, urban, and collective gardens, with contributions also intended for schools.
  In Milan, many schools have vegetable gardens in the gardens of their nursery schools, kindergartens, and primary schools, often the result of collaborations between institutions, families, and associations.
• PiedmontSlow Food's Orto in Condotta project is also widespread in many Piedmont schools; IC Torino II is an example with active social media documentation.
• Trentino Alto AdigeSeveral nursery and primary schools are running educational garden projects, including the one at the Siror Nursery School (TN). here all information.

Center of Italy

• ToscanaThere are schools that integrate the garden into local educational projects; for example, the project “The School in the Garden” with student participation through collaboration with organizations such as Demeter Italia (schools and city educational institutions).
• Emilia Romagna and LombardyMany schools, particularly in Parma, have educational gardens linked to nutrition education activities; the Vittorio Bottego Primary School is an example documented both through institutional channels and through school network materials.
• Lazio. Alongside the projects promoted by individual schools, the initiative "A Thousand Gardens for a Thousand School Gardens” of the Municipality of Rome, which has involved numerous public institutions in the creation of educational gardens within school premises, with the aim of spreading sustainability practices and care for common goods. Also in Lazio, some schools are participating in the “Garden in Conduct” linked to food education and biodiversity, including the garden in the Training Offer Plan.
• BrandsProjects like "Ortoincontro" involve schools in courses on nutrition, seasonality, and local areas, often with the support of local authorities and associations.

South and islands

In Southern Italy and the islands, school gardens are increasingly used as a tool for environmental and food education, often focusing on themes of seasonality, local produce, and the value of food.

• In Calabria, the school garden is used as a real outdoor classroom. A consolidated example is that of the Institute Amerigo Vespucci Comprehensive School from Vibo Valentia, which has integrated the garden into daily teaching activities, linking it to environmental education and respect for food.
• In Sicilia, several schools have chosen the garden as a stable tool for civic education. In Palermo, theRita Levi-Montalcini Comprehensive Institute carries out a school garden project related to the themes of sustainability and food waste prevention, documented on the institutional website. Another concrete example of a school garden project is that of the "Giuliana Saladino" State Comprehensive Institute which educates the "School Garden Project".
• In SardiniaThe Satta-Spano-De Amicis Comprehensive Institute of Nuoro uses its educational garden as a permanent educational laboratory, integrated into the teaching and communicated through the school's official channels.

These experiences demonstrate how, even in the South, school gardens are no longer an occasional activity, but a structured educational tool for teaching the value of food, respect for the land, and the importance of not wasting resources.

The website about school gardens

An operational reference for practical materials and training is the website of Emilio Bertoncini, agronomist and trainer, with useful resources for teachers and schools interested in starting a school garden.

Read also:

• How to grow a vegetable garden with children
• Home gardening: you can grow it even in small spaces
• Horticultural therapy: what it treats and how it works