The thesis regards a conceptual distinction between the city as the place for food consumption, and the countryside as the place for food production. This distinction turns to be problematic because of the illusory possibility of endless consumption generated within the city to be inconsiderate of the limitations of rural production. On this ground, the thesis demonstrates this distinction to relate to historical patterns of food production and consumption within, respectively, rural and urban environments. It does so by illustrating how the industrial expansion over the historical city walls and its consequent de-industrialization have fostered a progressive functional and physical segregation of urban spaces of consumption. The thesis acknowledges that any assumption as to the countryside’s separation from the city can be overturned by a more nuanced relationship between these two entities. This thesis argues that this can be achieved through the combined application, upon the urban environment, of selected principles of the Slow Food movement, conflating food production with the pleasure of food consumption; and a conception of agriculture not in antagonism with the city.