ABSTRACT
The efforts of northern Italian medieval cities to control and improve their environments were like “straws in the wind,” in the sense that the phrase carries with it the notion of an event that acts as a portent, a precursor, an omen, or the harbinger of a future trend. The medieval town, in spite of its urban character, remained an entity based upon an agrarian foundation that tended to encourage and sustain conditions in which this refuse was considered the norm. In spite of occasional failures, however, the medieval elites did accomplish a great deal in terms of preserving and enhancing the environment. The communal authorities of medieval Bergamo were among the first urban leaders to recognize that they had a communitywide responsibility to maintain and improve the environment and that they had the power and the authority to develop and implement an environmental policy.
