Caroline Goodson is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge where her research interrogates material remains alongside archival and literary records to evaluate the rise of early medieval polities in the Western Mediterranean. She was awarded the Rome Prize in 2002-3 for her doctoral research, and subsequently has been funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Foundation. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2010, her previous publications include The Rome of Pope Paschal I (817-824): Papal Power, Urban renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic Translation (Cambridge, 2010).

'Caroline Goodson leads the reader on a fascinating journey through the cities of early medieval Italy exploring their complex landscape through archaeological and botanical evidence. She shows the enormous potential of gardens and orchard for economic and social history, by providing a vivid and original image of the interaction between nature and urban culture.' Maria Cristina La Rocca, Università degli Studi di Padova

• List of Figures and Tables; Acknowledgements; Terms and Measurements; List of Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Patterns and changes; 3. The shape of the phenomenon; 4. Alliances and exchanges; 5. Values and ideals; 6. Conspicuous cultivation; 7. Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.

Caroline Goodson is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge where her research interrogates material remains alongside archival and literary records to evaluate the rise of early medieval polities in the Western Mediterranean. She was awarded the Rome Prize in 2002-3 for her doctoral research, and subsequently has been funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Foundation. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 2010, her previous publications include The Rome of Pope Paschal I (817-824): Papal Power, Urban renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic Translation (Cambridge, 2010).

'Caroline Goodson leads the reader on a fascinating journey through the cities of early medieval Italy exploring their complex landscape through archaeological and botanical evidence. She shows the enormous potential of gardens and orchard for economic and social history, by providing a vivid and original image of the interaction between nature and urban culture.' Maria Cristina La Rocca, Università degli Studi di Padova

• List of Figures and Tables; Acknowledgements; Terms and Measurements; List of Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Patterns and changes; 3. The shape of the phenomenon; 4. Alliances and exchanges; 5. Values and ideals; 6. Conspicuous cultivation; 7. Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.