How gardens helped Positano to be self-sufficient over the centuries

Walnut tree in Positano residential area, above Fornillo

200 years ago, due to the limited connection and no paved roads available to reach both Naples and Salerno other than by taking the path today called Sentiero degli Dei, the inhabitants of the Costiera had to develop a self-sufficient lifestyle, that, by the way, a knowledege and practice coming in useful in these days of crisi ..

With no wheat readily and in big amounts available to bake bread from, they had to revert to their chestnut trees, growing above Scala and also at the Santa Maria di Castello area above Positano. Nuts and fruit trees were cultivated in town or on the terraces built skillfully along the cliffs and vertical rocks amidst the Mediterranean macchia. So you still find walnut trees in the center of Positano ..

Ripening walnuts on a towering tree on Via Colombo

Amidst the "decorative" gardens in Positano, take a closer look, not only what is growing in the soil but also in pots and even along streets. In the times before the Strada Statale 163 was built in 1861, providing the much needed connection to the world, the gardens here housed vegetables, nut trees and fruit trees. 

Walnut tree providing so welcome shade these days ..

Above town, the inhabitants were raising sheep and goats to obtain dairy products. You still see these traits of self-sufficiency, which is able to practice here also due to the accomodating climate which allows for example to grow the lemon variant quattro stagioni, so people would have enough to eat, from flour to vegetables, milk, nuts, fruit and even meat. Even today, if you take a closer look, the gardens are dotted with kitchen plots, and even along the roads, growing profusely with the other flowers in their ceramic pots, are kitchen herbs and sometimes even vegetables. This blog will show you plenty of these examples as it develops. By the way, there is one particular vegetable garden left in the center of Positano, and you will be able to read about that later on ..

Oranges are available here in the midst of summer; mandarine trees in the center of Positano, providing shade to the smaller shrubs, hydrangeas and rose bushes ..