Pietro de' Crescenzi

Pietro de' Crescenzi (; 1230/35 – c. 1320), also known as Pietro Crescenzi(o), Pier Crescenzi(o) and other variations of his name, was an Italian jurist from Bologna, now remembered for his writings on horticulture and agriculture, the Ruralia commoda.

Life Pietro de' Crescenzi was born in Bologna in about 1235; the only evidence for his date of birth is the annotation "septuagenarian" in the Ruralia commoda, dated with some certainty between 1304 and 1309. He was educated at the University of Bologna in logic, medicine, the natural sciences and law, but did not take his doctorate. Crescenzi practiced as a lawyer and judge from about 1269 until 1299, travelling widely in Italy in the course of his work.

In January 1274, he married Geraldina de' Castagnoli, with whom he had at least five children. She died in or shortly after December 1287. In January 1289, he married Antonia de' Nascentori, with whom he also had several children.

It is not known when de' Crescenzi died. His last will is dated 23 June 1320; a legal document dated 20 February 1321 describes him as dead, at the age of almost ninety. King Charles V of France ordered a French translation in 1373. In 1471 it was printed in Latin for the first time, in Augsburg and Strasbourg. After circulating in numerous manuscript copies, Crescenzi's treatise became the first printed modern text on agriculture when it was published in Augsburg by Johann Schüssler in 1471. Some 57 editions in Latin, Italian, French, and German appeared during the following century, as did two editions in Polish.