Artichoke production in Italy Artichoke production in Italy Artichoke production in Italy has a long history. Italy is the world's largest producer of artichokes. With Spain and France, the three countries produce more than 80% of the world's artichokes. There are two theories as to its origin: artichokes may have come from the Levant, derived from the cardoon or thistle through a cross-fertilization process, while others attribute it to the work of Italian horticulturists. The first record of artichoke cultivation in Italy was during the fifteenth century in Naples, where it was considered a new food species. In 1466, Filippo Strozzi brought the first
Artichoke evidence is inferential only. Names for the artichoke in English and many other European languages today (e.g. Spanish "alcachofa", French "artichaut") come from medieval Arabic الخرشوف "al-ḫaršūf" ("not" from modern Levantine Arabic أرضي شوكي "arḍī šawkī", which derives from folk-etymological reinterpretation of one or more of the European names.) Le Roy Ladurie, in his book "Les Paysans de Languedoc", has documented the spread of artichoke cultivation in Italy and southern France in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, when the artichoke appeared as a new arrival with a new name, which may be taken to indicate an arrival of