Bücher von Paolo (University of Michigan Squatriti

This innovative environmental history of the European chestnut tree and its woods offers valuable perspectives on the human transition from Roman to medieval Italy. It integrates evidence from botanical and literary sources, individual charters and case studies of specific communities exposing changes in medieval land use.

This original 1998 study shows how early medieval Italian societies coped with the problems of having too much or too little water, and analyses their use of it. Domestic usage, bathing, irrigation and drainage, fishing, and milling all receive full coverage.