A fundamental ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, the artichoke has always been part of the gastronomic culture of the rural populations of southern Italy, and Campania in particular.
The roots of its cultivation can be traced back to the time of the Bourbons, whose statistical office already in 1811 noted the presence of artichokes in the area of Evoli, present day Eboli, and Capaccio. Farmers in the Neapolitan area were the first to tend specialized artichoke cultivations by planting “carducci” of the same ecotype in the areas adjacent to the famous Temples of Paestum.
But dissemination of artichokes in the Sele Valley dates back to around 1929-30, thanks to extensive reclamation works and profound agricultural changes introduced by the land reform. Migliorini’s book on economic geography published in 1949 confirms its presence and importance in the area.
A more detailed description of the diffusion and importance of the cultivation of the Artichoke of Paestum was made by Bruni, in 1960, which refers to the artichoke of Castellammare as an ecotype cultivated in the Sele Plain, a variety already mentioned by other authors as belonging to the Romanesco type.