L’agricoltura sperimentata ovvero Piano general di Agricoltura per uso dell’Italia nel quale s’insegna l’unico metodo di preparare le terre per avere una raccolta in ogni classe che renda un cinquanta per cento piu degli altri, e in particolare non solo per coltivare le vita, il formento, il riso, il lino ma ancora per fare le vini, articolo importantissimo trascuratto dalla magior parte, delle persone fino ad ora. Opera nella quale si discrive la maniera di coltivare ogni sorta di alberi

Venezia: Presso Antonio Graziosi, 1772.

8vo. 185 x 120 mm., [7 ¼ x 4 ¾ inches].  xvi, 312 pp.  Bound in contemporary paste-paper boards laced to the text block.  Printed on thin paper, some signatures brown with age and some foxing, but generally in good, sound condition.

Africo Clementi(fl. 1550-1580) was born in Padua and was educated to become a notary, writing contracts, wills, and official government documents.  As he prospered he began to purchase fields in the outskirts of Padua and rented out his land to tenant farmers with whom he worked.  He studied the ancient writers in the field and used their insights to produce this book, which is only partly original in substance. 

The title states that this is a general plan for Italian farmers which teaches agricultural “methods for preparing the land to achieve a harvest in each class that yields fifty percent more than others, and in particular not only for growing vines, wheat, rice, flax, but also for making wine; a very important subject, overlooked by most people until now. A work describing the manner of cultivating all kinds of trees. . .”  His book is arranged in seven chapters, each devoted to an aspect of farming from soil analysis, farm animals, farm equipment, and storage barns to vegetable gardens, vine growing and wine making.   

“Many editions have been made of this work which, if we wish to refer back to the times in which it was written, deserves the highest praise.  Filippo Re in his work, Dizionario Ragionato di Libri d’Agricoltura (1808) writes that Africo Clemente “discusses the cultivation of many plants based on his own experiences as a farmer and that future authorities on the subject used his precepts in their own writing on the cultivation of soil and crops for consumption” (Niccoli, p. 43)

Salvatore Adorno is harsher in his critique of Africo Clemente’s work, suggesting that he did not farm the land himself and used the information he gleaned from the classics and his tenants to produce the book.  In any event, this work is filled with information on early agricultural practices, and it had a significant impact on Italian farming for over three centuries.  This appears to be the final edition printed in the 18th century, originally printed in Venice, 1572.  According to Paleari Henssler this is the 10th edition. 

Filippo. Re, Dizionario ragionato dei libri di agricoltura, II, Venezia 1808, pp. 132-133. Vitttorio Niccoli, Saggio Storico e Bibliografico dell’Agricoltura Italiana, p. 43. Henssler, Bibliografia Latino-Italiana di Gastromonia I. pp. 186-87.  Lord Westbury, Handlist of Italian Cookery Books, p. 48.  André Simon. Bibliotheca Gastronomica, no. 353.  Salvatore Adorno.  Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, V. 26 (1982).