The Tidal Garden is a Venice-based research agency that explores the edible potential of halophytes - salt-tolerant plants - as a tool for cultural adaptation to climate change. Led by Filippo Grassi (environmental scientist), Lodovica Guarnieri (designer/researcher) and Lorenzo Barbasetti di Prun (chef/artist), in collaboration with a network of farmers and gastronomic professionals, the project establishes a supply chain for the cultivation of new crops and the development of novel culinary products from salinised agricultural fields.

More frequent and unpredictable tides, higher seas and erratic precipitation are altering the agricultural landscape in and around the Venetian Lagoon, with rising cropland soil salinity pushing once common crops out of production. The loss of key foods and ingredients, the lack of jobs for farmers and growing property speculation by the tourism industry are just some of the risks posed by this environmental shift.

But what is a problematic condition for some plants provides an opportunity for others. Samphire and other wild halophites grow spontaneously on the salty soil of coastal agricultural land. Literally “salt plants”, these species are endemic of the Lagoon and saltmarshes. As they now inhabit growing portions of salinised farmlands, halophytes are environmental pioneers that hold the potential to renegotiate farming and eating in the Venetian Lagoon within a new tidal condition.
 
By liaising with research institutions, public bodies, and producers, The Tidal Garden supports the creation of a supply chain that integrates existing agricultural and gastronomic knowledge to revive active and sustainable stewardship of the landscape.

Since 2021, we have been consulting with the Municipality of Cavallino-Treporti (Venice Lagoon) on strategies to adapt to the expanding soil salinisation in the area. Alongside that, The Tidal Garden has successfully developed a series of products in collaboration with local producers, such as ice cream, bread, and kombucha, which are now commercialised in Venice. 

In 2025, the network and the methodology were formalised through the registration of The Tidal Garden as a trademark. This encompasses the entire process from field to product, expanding the cultivation and gastronimic uses of halophytes for greater food sovereignty and resilience to climate change.

In tandem with agricultural and gastronomic r&d, The Tidal Garden curates a cultural programme to revive the interest in halophytes as a tool for adaptation to the changing environment. By inviting chefs, researchers, artists, and farmers to work around and with these plants and salinised croplands, the programme creates opportunities of research and wide-ranging dissemination while developing strategies for the inclusion of salt-loving plants in the culinary and cultural heritage of local communities.