Urban allotments are small plots of land that local councils allocate to individual residents or small groups to cultivate, growing fruit and vegetables.

Every Italian city has its own regulations, but in general the procedure is fairly straightforward: the notice inviting applications for plot assignments is often published online, you apply and you receive your own square metres of green space.

Urban allotments used to be assigned to elderly pensioners and were located in peripheral, poorly served areas. Today's new approach is instead to encourage them everywhere and for all age groups — a trend that will be reviewed on 22 March at the Vita in Campagna fair, which will host the conference "Gli orti comunali: un fenomeno sociale in continua espansione" at the Centro Fiera del Garda in Montichiari.

The phenomenon is genuinely expanding. In the past month alone, a great many local councils and regional capitals have made moves. Modena's urban allotments will be established at La Madonnina, a 12,000-square-metre area near the San Cataldo cemetery, which will become a fully fledged urban allotment site to be entrusted to private individuals. Gallarate (Va) has just published its online application notice; Gallarate residents who are of legal age and do not have access to other cultivable land within the municipality may apply. In Genoa, the Consulta del Verde has decided to favour the 26-to-30 age bracket — until now the most disadvantaged group — which is increasingly seeing the land as a new resource to make ends meet at the end of the month. In Alba, a notice has been published for the award of 51 urban allotments, with the aim of enhancing some of the city's green spaces by involving families, young people and the elderly. In Potenza, residents are taking the field with the OrtInCittà project, which brings agriculture throughout the urban area; the future managers of Potenza's urban allotments have already been trained to learn how to plan, prepare and work their plots.

In Naples, urban allotments have been conceived as a tool for the rehabilitation of people with drug addiction: a protocol setting out the regulations for the award and management of urban allotments was recently approved by Naples city council. In Cagliari, the process is just beginning, with a pilot scheme starting in Pirri. The chosen location is the garden surrounding the former secondary school in via Zucca. In Sassari there will be seven urban allotments set among tower blocks: for now they are small, anonymous green spaces where, at best, the grass is cut just a couple of times a year, but they will soon be made available to the elderly, the unemployed, schools and associations for growing vegetables, flowers and small fruit trees across a total surface area of 37,600 square metres in the valle del Rosello, in via Col di Lana, via Baldedda, via Cosseddu, via Cedrino, Tana di lu Mazzoni and the valle dell'Eba Giara. In Rome, a fundraising campaign has been launched for the creation of urban allotments on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, combining agricultural vocation with an opportunity for integration.

"On one hand, they represent an excellent opportunity for local councils to reclaim abandoned and degraded areas, making them orderly and productive, rescuing them from dirt and neglect," explains Giorgio Vincenzi, director of Vita in Campagna. "For the elderly they also provide a moment of togetherness and participation in social life: while tending their own plot, the exchange of advice and opinions is the order of the day. Beyond the social function, the educational value of these initiatives must not be overlooked."

"Dozens and dozens of major Italian cities are part of our national project; among the most active municipalities I would highlight Padova, Genoa and Otranto," declares Fabrizio Montepara, president of ResTipica, the association established by Anci for the promotion of the gastronomic, environmental, cultural and tourism heritage of its member municipalities.

"By cultivating urban allotments you not only save money but obtain 'zero-centimetre' produce, which offers guaranteed quality," adds Giorgio Prosdocimi Gianquinto, lecturer in Horticulture at the University of Bologna and director of the Research Center in Urban Environment for Agriculture and Biodiversity. "And as the number of interested citizens grows, we are seeing a marked increase in operators and technicians attending our limited-enrolment training courses, with places filling up in record time."

"Taking part in an urban allotment cultivation project allows you not only to grow your own fruit and vegetables, with benefits for both the table and the wallet," notes Cristina Bertazzoni, expert in educational psychology and lecturer at the University of Brescia, "but also to activate exchanges of knowledge born of an agricultural activity developed day after day — an excellent foundation for building community values. It must be said, however, that having a plot of land and materials at one's disposal is only the first step: to make an urban allotment work, a 'community animator' is needed to act as a catalyst for togetherness."