The Italian Unesco Biosphere Reserves and proximity (eco)tourism: What are the criticalities and possibilities? – During the pandemic, outdoor recreational practices received particular attention and saw an increase in the number of users, especially in areas close to everyday life, as it was considered accessible, safe and “natural”. However, tourism negatively affects the climate and environment, highlighting the complex relationship between humans and nature in the Anthropocene. Reducing travel distances or using environmentally friendly transportation is not enough. Despite greater integration of nature and culture, the idea of unspoilt nature that must be preserved persists, encouraging the commodification of nature. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves seek to overcome this dichotomy by promoting conservation alongside sustainable development and involving local communities. By analyzing three Italian reserves, we assess the proximity tourism that occurs there, how these dichotomies are addressed, and whether they can mitigate the negative impacts of tourism. The research shows that success depends on the actors involved, community participation, and more explicit management of tourism by the MAB reserves.

Economic growth and human development: From “theoretical” reflection to the opportunities of the “NewgenerationEU” plan. – With the publication by Serge Latouche, of “La décroissance” (2006) and even before with “Les dangers du marché planetaire” (1998), the need for a drastic change in the perspective of development followed by the Western world is felt, to be achieved through a clear modification of the fundamental parameters of economic growth. In the years immediately following, a group of scholars coordinated by geographer M.G. Lucia, published in-depth research on the interaction that crosses economy, environment and society in the link between “weak” and “strong” sustainibility. Starting from these bases, the contribution, through a careful survey of the literature on the subject, delves into a topical aspect of the expected process of “ecological transition” according to the geo-economic prospects related to the creation of new job opportunities in the area of the so-called “Good jobs”.

New perspectives on Covid-19 and epistemic injustices. – The Covid-19 outbreak is often associated with pollution and overexploitation of common global resources. Less attention, though with a few exceptions, has been paid to the social and human origins of the crisis. In fact, asymmetric power relations among social groups can determine the outbreak of crises and a reallocation of their related risks towards social and territorial peripheries. Research shows how the concept of epistemic injustice can take on systemic connotations, as the use of inappropriate or ineffective analytic tools can lead to practices that are perceived as just, effective, or efficient, but in fact lack these requirements. The negative impacts of such an eventuality would far outweigh the mitigating effect and magnitude of the ongoing redistribution processes and may fuel increasingly unequal power relations between insiders and outsiders. In this scenario, the rediscovery of an ethic of the common good is an essential element in the design and implementation of a collective way out of the crisis.

Fast mapping of the avalanche tracks on the Southern side of Malacoste (Gran Sasso Range, Abruzzi) for a better knowledge of environmental risk. – This note shows the results of a research, conducted in the Gran Sasso area, on the risk of avalanches and related territorial consequences. The study is based on a geological and geographic approach and uses techniques of fast mapping and field research. It was possible to identify the traces of 85 events that occurred between 2007 and 2017, which are many more than those officially registered. This made it possible to specify, at least for the type of wet-snow avalanches, the areas most subject to the phenomenon and highlighted the environmental risks and possible dangers for the visitors in the area. Therefore, it provided useful indications for a more prudent management of risk and better territorial planning.

Anthropocene and geography. – The concept of Anthropocene is used today in many disciplinary sectors to thematize the issues concerning the enormous and growing impact of human activities on nature. His introduction in the field of geographic studies has placed at the center the reflection on the heart of geographic epistemology: the relationships between human societies and the environment, their ecological consequences, the interpretation of the landscape, the analysis and the critical deconstruction of representations, the relationship between physical and human geography in scientific investigation. The article discusses the contribution of geographers to research on the Anthropocene and presents some ideas on the role that geography can play in scientific research on the Anthropocene. On the one hand, geography can support the critical reading of the ways in which the Anthropocene has also become a concept widely used by the media, contextualizing and deconstructing narratives. On the other hand, also by using the potential of thematic cartography in visualizing data and allowing reflections and analyzes at different scales, helping to territorialize the Anthropocene narrative, highlighting the changes and processes in the different regions of the planet.

Mural maps. Preliminary remarks on the little known case of Villa Mondragone. – Mural maps are a typical tradition of the XVIth Century cartography in the Italian context as symbols of knowledge, power and geopolitical struggle. While the main examples of the “Galleria delle carte geografiche” in Vatican and the “Sala della Cosmografia” in the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola have been well studied, in the Villa Mondragone, near Rome, there is a later example dated XIX Century which seems to follow the same tradition with different aims. It was the Sala Ciampi, which was part of the Collegium animated by the Jesuits. Nowadays the two mural maps are in very poor conditions, but old postcards remind us how the Sala appeared during the 20’s and 30’s. This contribution represents a first approach in the study of the origins of those maps in the context of the late Renaissance Villa Mondragone, which can emerge other research interests.

When conflict is not seen. Resilience/resistance and territorial hegemony in the forest territories of Chile. – The central-southern regions of Chile have undergone a socio-ecological reterritorialization in the last forty years due to the conformation of an industrial forest monoculture, associated with a forestry sector structured in an oligopoly, dominated by two holding companies. This paper analyses the territorial relations between the wine sector and the forestry sector in the Itata River Valley sub-region. Wine-growing was born in this territory in Chile in the 17th century and has consolidated over time, becoming a reference point on a national scale. In recent decades it has been subjected to various shocks: from changes in wine-making processes to forest expansion. The results of the research lead us to think of socio-ecological relations in terms of a territorial hegemony operated by the main forest societies in economic, cultural and political terms. In cases where they come into contact with productive activities which are “resilient” to this expansion, such as wine-growing, forestry companies adopt practices of co-optation, favoured by the strength derived from the dimension of multinational holding.

The wind farm as a symbolic landscape. – Wind energy has had a remarkable development in Italy in recent years, despite severe criticism on the environmental and social impact of the plants. In particular, numerous studies and research have been conducted on the subject of the visual impact of wind turbines, mostly giving space to those who consider them a territorial realization that disfigures the landscape. The widespread construction of what today in Italy are commonly called wind parks must however lead us to consider that just as many are those who see in the plants not so much an element of visual disturbance but, on the contrary, an element of the landscape with an acceptable aesthetic value, and in some cases even positive. The research focuses on two wind farms – Monte d’Aria in Marche and Cinque Stelle in Liguria – close to established Italian tourist regions with the primary aim of giving a voice to those who, residents or tourists, consider them symbol and flag of a new, correct approach of society towards the natural environment.

Safe and non-safe space: an investigation on new dwelling strategies in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. – The experience of Covid-19 gave us the need to rethink organisational methods of contemporary society, particularly public and domestic spaces. Our research used the pandemic struggle to examine current ways of looking at the safe and unsafe, entailing new practises of social action.
This research was structured in two different stages. First we investigated a series of behaviours and perceptions within public and domestic spaces. Second we examined the strategies through which the subjects reorient the spaces and define new habitus and practices of dwelling. In both cases we focused on hygiene procedures and alternative measures undertaken to diminish the risk of contagion.
The case studies are grouped by three different ranges of contagion in northern, central and southern Italy. They are discussed with reference to theoretical and methodological debates within social geography and cultural anthropology.

Covid-19 and tourism in Italy: from the devastating effects of the pandemic to the relaunch policy for a strategic sector. – The world is facing an unprecedented global health, social and economic emergency as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 has gravely wounded the world economy with serious consequences impacting all communities and individuals. Moving rapidly across borders, along the principal arteries of the global economy, the spread of the virus has benefited from the underlying interconnectedness – and frailties – of globalization, catapulting a global health crisis into a global economic shock. Travel and tourism is among the most affected sectors with a massive fall of international demand amid global travel restrictions including many borders fully closed, to contain the virus. Looking at this context, the contribution aims to evaluate the pandemic effects on this strategic sector. The research, in the future, opens a direct focus on the impact of the virus on some specific sectors of Italian tourism, to identify priority and useful guidelines for relaunching the sector.

Covid-19: which consequences on productive sectors? A focus on Italy. – The research illustrates the indirect effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the Italian production system. During the lockdown, many Italian institutions have carried out forecasts which have led to estimates of a negative impact of Covid-19 on annual GDP between 5 and 10%. The average impact on annual GDP, however, is the result of heterogeneous shocks affecting most sectors of economic activity. Laying on the evidence collected, policy recommendations are elaborated to manage the social and economic consequences of Covid-19 in Italy.

Pandemic crisis and economic crisis. The historiographical debate on the effects of the Black Death. – The great plague which hit Europe from 1348 has long been at the core of different historiographical interests. Alongside research focusing on the demographic consequences of the plague, other studies examined strictly epidemiologic issues, the socio-political effects of the crisis, or its „emotive‟ impact in the long term. Among the questions taken into consideration, the relationship between plague and economic trends has obviously played a crucial part. The essay aims to look at this debate, especially highlighting the significant interpretative changes which emerged in the past few decades. The gloomy picture of the post-plague economy, marked by a long decline, has now been replaced by a more optimistic view, which tends to underline the positive consequences brought about by the demographic drop in the medium-long term: in terms of wage growth, for instance, or increase in consumption, but also of the weakening of aristocratic control over peasants‟ work, processes of productive specialization, and the increase of commercial exchange.

Rome’s Local Public Transport System: How to Trigger a Resilient Transformation Toward Sustainability? – The research presented in this paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the public vs private ownership by re-examining the case of Rome’s local public transport (LPT) system. After having illustrated the main reasons that led Rome’s citizens to ask for a referendum, the research provides a brief historical overview of Rome’s LPT system and discusses the main stylized facts presented in the institutional literature surveyed. Finally, the summary statistics are built using publicly available data. The results of the analysis highlight how ATAC’s inefficiency is only partially endogenous, as the “imported” territorial inefficiency is not negligible. This issue deserves more attention as, even if liberalization might enter a new golden age, the existence of structural inefficiencies might reduce the margins needed to incentivize private providers to enter the market, at least in those production segments more related to public interests.

Where the past meets the future: the contribution of universities and research centers in Europe.

An Overview of the Tourism Planning of the City of Recife. – Recife is a beautiful city located in the North east of Brazil. Like the majority of Brazilian cities, it had never had a proper tourism plan before the one developed in 2013 – even considering its innate potential. This article aims to share that plan, in which a few field researches were done, as well as informal interviews with the main actors involved. Throughout the years of implementation and execution, not only the impact of external factors was sensitively perceived but also the importance of a dynamic (and participative) revaluation of the plan itself.

Geography of International Trade: An Empirical Analysis. – The development of economic relations between Italy and Egypt has ancient origins. However, recently researchers have focused their attention on opportunities and risks that have to face Italian firms operating in Egypt. This article is based on an empirical analysis of direct experience of Italian actors involved in internationalization strategies. The article, therefore, offers an original perspective on geography of trade between Italy and Egypt.

Abstract. – I droni si stanno diffondendo rapidamente sul mercato gene-ralista. Gli hardware e i software attualmente disponibili divengono sem-pre più economici e questo accresce le potenzialità applicative di questi strumenti. Parallelamente al numero degli operatori commerciali, cresce anche quello dei gruppi di lavoro scientifici interessati all’uso di questi mezzi per lo studio delle condizioni materiali e dello status complessivo del paesaggio, del territorio e dei suoi beni storici e culturali. La tecnolo-gia si adegua rapidamente a diverse necessità operative; nel frattempo, in vari paesi europei iniziano a svilupparsi normative sull’impiego di questa nuova peculiare tipologia di aeromobile. Se è vero che sistemi e sensori di alta sofisticazione si rendono necessari in alcuni casi, l’esperienza tut-tavia insegna che, in altre circostanze, anche prodotti meno avanzati for-niscono una grande quantità di dati e contribuiscono all’acquisizione di conoscenza significativa sui fenomeni osservati. La possibilità, per un maggior numero di gruppi di lavoro, di avere accesso a queste tecnologie innovative grazie ad un’opportuna convergenza di approcci “open” e “low-tech” permetterà nei prossimi anni un più completo ed utile studio dei beni materiali del nostro “cultural heritage”. Tale concetto generale è stato sottoposto a verifica, fra il 2010 e il 2015 dal Geographic Research and Application Laboratory (GREAL) dell’Università Europea di Roma, in collaborazione con altri partner di rilievo fra cui l’Istituto per le Tec-nologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali (ITABC-CNR) e l’LT-TEKNEHUB dell’Università di Ferrara. Questo lavoro presenta alcune delle più signifi-cative applicazioni sottoposte a verifica e riassume le conclusioni tratte da tali esperienze.

Cross-Border Cooperation across Sicily and Tunisia: experiences and prospects. – The article presents the main results of a field research conducted between 2012 and 2013 on the Italy-Tunisia border, aimed at investigating regional development options through policies and practices of cross-border cooperation. Starting from the specific context of the Italy-Tunisia border, the article presents the main aims, achievements, limits and prospects for cross-border cooperation across the channel of Sicily, also in light of the perceptions and expectations of local private and public stakeholders. The priorities to be addressed at different scales in order to improve the impact of the cooperation between Sicily and Tunisia include, in our opinion, the support to democratization in Tunisia and to the local civil society; to pay attention to the social as well as the economic aspects of cooperation; to ensure to local actors both political and financial support; to improve the cross-border cooperation instrument through a better targeting; the setting of a coherent multilevel political framework for addressing each of these issues effectively.

Social organization in space: a case of scientific neighbourliness. – Sociology, as a general science of social relations and interactions, shares with geography a call to work as an accepted consolidation pivot for contributions coming from different fields.

After showing how space as a topic is seen from the micro- and macro-sociological perspectives, the paper is mostly devoted to the Author’s studies on regional small industry development in so-called “third Italy”.

The research methodology includes references to different disciplinary fields, the unifying perspective being the combination of four regulation mechanisms for local economy: market, organization, reciprocity, political exchange.

The same methodology is then applied to Torino, an industrial city undergoing deep transformation. This kind of analysis has proved itself useful when private and public actors were engaged in strategic planning for the city.

Rural Development Index (RDI). Hypothesis for a synthetic indicator of rural development. – This paper contains proposals contributing to the compo-sition of a synthetic macroeconomic indicator able to measure/assess on a European, national and regional scale the effectiveness of rural development policies up to now implemented by the EU. Since Agenda 2000, the rural development program is the “second pillar” of the CAP and it aims to maintain the competitiveness of rural areas through a quality policy, promotion of employment (in particular for young people) as well as environmental and rural protection; the measure’s central theme is the search for synergies between productive activities and those based on the territory and the traditions of the rural environment. The contents of this research refers almost exclusively to rural Europe, because the framework of these reflections is the Common Agricultural Policy, but some hints can be generally considered for development assessment relating to rural areas outside Europe.