Monaco: Green is the new glam for Monaco’s princely urban farming set
It’s still surprising to find that Monaco, a rocky metropolis almost devoid of arable land, is capable of yielding crops of goodies as diverse as pineapple sage flower, Martiniquan peanuts, sorrel and Chinese pink radish.
RFI
Sept 1, 2020
Excerpt:
Nestled between the imposing backdrop of the neo-classical Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and the azure waters of the Mediterranean, tidy rows of meaty tomatoes, kale, garlic and black bell peppers flicker in the breeze, looking very much at home in their plush Monaco surroundings.
This humble veggie patch, which feeds the hotel’s Michelin-starred Blue Bay restaurant, is a small part of an ambitious urban farming venture that has been steadily transforming the principality’s concrete rooftops into lush, fertile land.
Spanning just two square kilometres, Monaco is a well-groomed cityscape famous for its excesses – fast cars, luxury yachts and high-stakes gambling – as well as for its tabloid-frequenting royal family. It is almost entirely urban, and has zero commercial agriculture.
Taking root among the sea of skyscrapers, nonetheless, are plots of organic micro-gardens bursting with local and exotic species. They’ve spent the past five years tacitly forging oases of greenery throughout the most densely populated place on earth.
While urban farming is all about cultivating food in heavily populated spaces, it’s still surprising to find that Monaco, a rocky metropolis almost devoid of arable land, is capable of yielding crops of goodies as diverse as pineapple sage flower, Martiniquan peanuts, sorrel and Chinese pink radish.
