Risultati per "Event"

The case study of Bitti (Sardinia): Risk perception and local best practices. – In alignment with Goal 13 of the UN 2030 Agenda, strengthening risk awareness within local communities can provide a framework for effective citizenship in managing extreme weather and climate events. In Sardinia, the community of Bitti (an inland area in the province of Nuoro, northeastern Sardinia) experienced a devastating flood in 2020. In response, local institutions and the community demonstrated resilience and implemented sound institutional practices. Following a field survey initiated through meetings with local authorities, this work presents the results of research aimed at understanding the risk perception among the municipality’s population. This insight aims to support the future implementation of participatory processes and citizen science tools designed to foster the development of communities resilient to meteorological disasters.
Mountain Tourism and Climate Change: What Are the Future Prospects? – In the collective imagination, when one speaks of a mountain tourist destination, the reference is typically to iconic places, especially associated with the winter season and the so-called “settimana bianca” (winter holiday week). Places like Courmayeur or Cortina d’Ampezzo have represented, and have been portrayed in films as well, a constant presence in the world of mountain tourism. The first major setback occurred with the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years, which changed the concept of travel and mobility as we had known it. In particular, the halt to national and international connections caused not only economic damage across the entire tourism sector but, more importantly, created a widespread fear of being together in crowded and enclosed spaces. This led people to rethink and reprogram their lives and their mobility habits, triggering - once it became possible to leave their places of residence - a timid yet urgent desire to be outdoors, to walk in the woods, visit beaches, and explore city centers where they could satisfy the longing that had built up over nearly two years of complete travel lockdown. This shift resulted in an exponential increase in visits to nearby locations at the provincial and regional levels, leading to a renewed appreciation for neighboring areas, as well as small villages and mountain towns. These places, in turn, had to adapt to welcome an increasing number of unexpected and unanticipated tourists. Adding to this scenario is climate change, which is severely challenging the operators of mountain facilities and accommodations. The seasons no longer follow their natural rhythm, and instead, we are witnessing increasingly unpredictable and violent weather events. This article will explore how certain mountain locations are confronting these emergencies and what changes they are likely to undergo in terms of tourism in the near future.
Major sporting events, discussed legacies and host destination transformations. –Among the various interpretations with which one can look at events, one possibility is to understand their legacy, understood as what remains in the territory at the end of the event itself in terms of symbols and values, or structures and systems; and if this legacy often becomes more important than the event itself. The article aims to examine the case of the Barcolana, an annual sailing event and regatta that takes place in the Gulf of Trieste. It is one of the largest and most famous sailing regattas in Europe and the world. The regatta attracts thousands of participants and spectators, mak-ing it a significant cultural and sporting event in the region. The Barcolana is known for its unique format, which involves a mass start in which hundreds of boats of various sizes and classes participate in a single regatta. Almost eighteen hundred boats were registered for the fifty-fifth edition last year. The event lasts a week with events on land and at sea, as well as the sailing competition which takes place on Sunday. After a review of the literature relating to the topic under study, through a qualitative methodology the factors that together create those effects, often positive but not only, on the territories involved in the event were analysed. The “on the move” interviews with some event participants were useful for understanding the involvement and quality of the event itself, and how to guarantee its continuous and gradual development.
The bitumen mine of Monte Camicia (Gran Sasso - Abruzzi): a geosite to develop. – The presence of geological and historical landmarks on the southern slopes of Monte Camicia (Gran Sasso Massif, Abruzzo, Italy) makes this area a candidate for site development and preservation. This paper aims to illustrate the links between geology and the history of the area, to highlight its societal value. Key features are three Aragonese coat-of-arms engraved in limestone boulders or on limestone cliffs and the “Miniera di Lignite”, a bitumen extraction plant that was built but never in operation. The story of the geological studies in the area – dating back at least to the first half of the 1800s is summarized, including the tragic events that led to the death of three geologists who were researching in the area in 1958. In conclusion, it is suggested that the area become a geosite in connection with the development of the Fonte Vetica and Campo Imperatore areas.
The participatory process of community tourism in Oscata for the enhancement of Alta Irpinia. - Tourism is one of the most disruptive phenomena on a global scale, both as concerns intensity in terms of the flows of people it moves and for the economic, social and environmental transformations it brings. The exploitation of territorial resources and the effects tourism produces can at times result irreversible on the environmental system of reference. This element has often been underestimated by the tourism industry remaining unable to prevent the negative consequences of mass tourism which, on the one hand, damages resources and, on the other, corrodes the socio-territorial fabric. Consequently, a rethinking of the processes of development in the sector is necessary from the perspective of sustainability through local community participation.
The paper, based on the experience of Oscata, a rural village situated in Alta Irpinia, aims to reflect on alternative forms of tourism such as community tourism which welcomes visitors offering them hospitality underpinned by emotional and culturally interesting involvement thus triggering integration and participation in the local community's routine activities and mainstream social events.
Geographies of the sacred: the sanctuary of the SS. Trinità of Vallepietra between tradi-tion, territorial identity, and new practices. – The Sanctuary of the Santissima Trinità of Vallepietra represents an emblematic place where faith, tradition, and new social and territorial practices converge. This study examines how this sacred space continues to hold strong spiritual significance while also embracing new dynamics related to slow and sustainable travel. Younger generations are rediscovering pilgrimage through paths that combine spirituality with a search for territorial authenticity, maintaining a strong connection with tradition. The “companies” of pilgrims, symbolically united by banners and the practice of gatherings, perpetuate an identity bond with the territory, reinterpreting their belonging through a lens of re-territorialization. In this context, events related to pilgrimages and gatherings of banners are seen as practices of reclaiming the territory, strengthening the bond with the local community, and reaffirming the collective meaning of the sacred site. The approach of the Holy Year 2025 and the extraordinary Jubilee of 2033 has renewed attention to these places, intensifying the process of re-territorialization and reinforcing the bond between spirituality and territory. This study shows that, although influenced by socio-cultural changes, sanctuaries remain focal points of collective identity and territorial relationships, able to evolve without losing their original religious significance.
The global south as a transcalar geopolitical construction site: african profiles. – The last two years, with the post-Covid adjustments, the climate transition and two ongoing wars of global impact, have been marked by intense international attention towards the African continent, despite its vastness and diversity. On the one hand, this may please Africans, for the help that can come to the solution of their many problems; on the other hand, it worries them, given the historical precedents. There seems to be a new scramble for Africa underway due to the crumbling of the European and, more broadly, Western presence, against the backdrop of a more general reshuffling of the international order. In this reshuffling, the “Global South” seems to be playing an increasingly important role. Who will lead and how will the world’s economic, cultural and political evolution unfold? The game is complex, but Africa is certainly one of the main arenas of contention. As an immense reserve of raw materials - minerals, energy, agro-forestry - the Continent is emerging as the world’s leading area of demographic development while acquiring growing geopolitical relevance, due to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, but also, due to the conflicting profiles that are emerging in the Indo-Pacific, between China and the United States. In this fermenting context, heterogeneous events have taken place over the past couple of years (2023/24) that have recorded an impressive acceleration: two coups in Francophone Africa, three world summits that evoke a pan-African partnership (Russia-Africa, China-Africa, Piano Mattei), two geopolitical summits in Johannesburg and Nairobi (unified African position on climate change, September 2023). It is worth trying to trace a coherent geopolitical profile of this heterogeneous set of events.
Questo numero di documenti geografici si focalizza sul tema degli eventi nel loro rapporto con il territorio. In fisica, un evento è un “punto nello spazio tempo” e questa definizione ci sembra ben si applichi anche al modo in cui in geografia e in altre scienze sociali è andato consolidandosi l’ambito degli “Event Studies” con sotto-ambiti di specializzazione per caratteristiche delle manifestazioni (mega-eventi o eventi nazionali e medio-piccoli; ambito tematico: sport, cultura, politica…), nonché tempi (prima, durante e dopo) e prospettive con cui guardarli (considerando le diverse valenze e impatti culturali, economiche, politiche, ambientali e territoriali per le località ospitanti).
Olympic mega-events and digital urbanism: the case Tokyo 2020. – This article analyses the relation between Olympic mega-events and digital urbanism, by underlying the role of megaevent as accelerator of urban experimentation and the implications of the pervasive spread of smart technologies and digital platforms on the transformative processes of the spatial, social and political urban landscape. By drawing on the case study of Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the attention is focused on three main and intertwined transformative dimensions, which characterize the spatial techno-politics of the digital city: the production of urban space, in its immaterial and material dimensions; the mechanisms of urban governance, and of its governmental logics of control and regulation; and the question of urban citizenship and the transnational fight for the right to the city in anti-Olympics movements.
Comparative Experiences of Equestrian Sports Events in the Metropolitan Area of Rome. – Sports events offer an opportunity for regeneration, visibility, and international repositioning for the hosting territories as they can lead to the creation of cultural districts, displaying the territory’s self-representation and specialization. While these events require significant organizational and financial commitments, they also present strategic opportunities with various effects, such as economic diversification and cultural enrichment. This study examines the territorial impacts of two equestrian sports events in the Rome metropolitan area: the 2022 World Equestrian Games and the Piazza di Siena horse show. Despite
performing the same sport discipline, these events have different economic, social, and environmental impacts, as well as varying dynamics related to managing territorial conflicts. The reflection aims to analyse how to reconcile the goals of tourism-economic development and environmental protection in areas with significant natural value, by identifying programmatic actions and best practices.
From the European Capital to the Italian Capital of Culture. Reflections on the sidelines of Procida 2022 on events, narratives, images. – The contribution focuses on the “Capital of Culture” cross-referencing the characteristics, in terms of discourses and governance, assumed by the event – in its different declination at the European and Italian scale – with the new instances developed for tourist attraction and city branding’s goals. The two events will be explored with reference to the designated Italian cities, from the evolution of European Capital of Culture (ECoC) program to the invention of the Italian Capital of Culture (ICoC) initiative. The focus on the impact of ICoC, on the sidelines of Procida 2022, will allow us to reflect on the dynamics and contradictions produced by the cultural event on a tourist location already known for literary and cinematographic representations, in order to grasp the interrelations between the event and the new narratives and images conveyed.
From Mega Events to city’s touristification: dilemmas of Genoa’s renewed cultural capital. – The Mega Events that Genoa (Liguria, Italy) hosted between 1990 and 2004 (Expo ’92, 2001 G8 summit, European Capital of Culture 2004) have shifted the urban change and economic transition of the city towards cultural tourism, inducing administrators in the past two decades to organise a series of periodic minor events in order to maintain this trend. In this article we analyse the statistical data that demonstrate these changes and present the results of a survey disseminated to 522 citizens and users of the Liguria Region with the aim of understanding the locals’ perception about the role of such events in catalysing urban transformation and about the risks or opportunities related to the touristification of Genoa. The results emphasise the enduring gap between the “long timescales” of urban transformations and their perception, identifying the main drivers of these transformations.
The Rome of “great events”: mapping and diachronic analysis at the city-territory scale. The impact of a century and a half of extraordinary interventions. – This survey offers an accurate analysis of the major events held in Rome since the beginning of the 20th century. The time under review starts with the 1900 Jubilee, when the organization of hosting activities was for the first time under the responsibility of Italian authorities with specific economic support for reception facilities, and with the 1908 Olympics, where the planned venue for sporting events anticipates some of the choices made for Rome 1960 Olympics. The latter were strongly advocated by Pope Pius X, but in the end canceled by decision of Giolitti with similar motivations to the “no” expressed by Monti for the Rome 2020 event. The time spans up to the next Jubilee to be held in 2025 with the PNRR- financed projects.
Through a GIS mapping of planned and/or implemented interventions, and a comparative analysis with official ante quem and post quem cartography, the pilot survey aims at highlighting how much and how the “extraordinary” influences the “ordinary”, that is, how much targeted interventions in the city specifically needed for a major event impacts and directs its transformation, pointing out how the “extraordinary” is binding for the “ordinary” in individual case studies.
Re-think Rome, re-generate the peripheries. The Jubilee 2025. – The importance of major events for the territorial development of Rome highlights how they have influenced urban planning choices throughout history. Rome has alternated between positive and cautious approaches toward such events over time. In particular, the Jubilee, whether in its regular or extraordinary programming, demands a planning approach that balances Rome’s identity as both a capital and an apostolic seat. The Jubilee 2025 offers an opportunity to rethink and regenerate the urban development of Rome, not only in the central neighborhoods but also in the peripheries. This contribution focuses on the urban planning project for Jubilee 2025, with particular emphasis on the southeastern quadrant of the city, to evaluate whether the proposed actions can effectively address the socio-territorial challenges faced by areas such as Tor Vergata and Tor Bella Monaca.
Cooperations, mediations and conflicts between Italy and Switzerland in the Ticino River catchment basin: some geographical reflections. – This paper aims to describe and critically analyze the set of agreements, common laws and practices that were build up, across the years, to regulate cooperation between Switzerland and Italy around the Ticino River catchment basin on a series of issues concerning lakes and rivers. We identified five: shipping, fishing, regulation of water levels, electricity supply and production, and environmental protection. Interreg projects that were developed in the area are analyzed as recent means to solve conflicts based on innovative cross-scale governances. Eventually, issues of potential discord demanding mediation and cooperation in the near future are outlined, specifically in relation to climate change.
Proximity tourism in a peripheral area: the case of the Pistoia mountains. – The Pistoia mountains represented the traditional holiday destination for the towns of Pistoia, Florence and Prato that reached its peak in the Seventies and declined in the following decades. However, since the pandemic crisis a flow of tourists has been reborn.
How to transform a temporary event into a permanent new model of tourism? This is the research question of our study.
The paper describes the characteristics of tourist supply and demand, the decline of family-run hotels in favor of B&Bs and the role of proximity tourism.
The study also qualifies the tourism supply by interviewing local operators, managing two focus groups, defining a SWOT analysis. The results can be used for some policy proposals to exploit the strengths of the territory, reduce its weaknesses, seize the opportunities of the sustainable tourism and avoid the threats of the social scenario and climate change.
Il varo della Legge n. 86 del 2024, meglio conosciuta come legge sull’autonomia differenziata, costituisce un punto di svolta nel sistema istituzionale italiano, ridefinendo i rapporti tra stato e regioni. Già l’istituzione delle Regioni (1970) ha rappresentato il primo importante passo verso la decentralizzazione, considerato che sin dalla sua nascita, l’Italia post unitaria ha sempre privilegiato un assetto territoriale centralizzato, proprio per sopprimere le eventuali spinte indipendentistiche ancora pericolosamente presenti nel paese.
Remote sensing methods for burnout mapping and burn severity evaluation. The case of Trieste and Gorizia karst area in the summer of 2022. – Human beings are the principal agents of forest fires. In Friuli Venezia Giulia more than 90% of fires are of arson origin although the fire development and impact depend on land cover and weather conditions. During the second half of 2022, a serious fire broke out in Doberdò del Lago and blazed for a good ten days in a transnational karst area among Trieste, Gorizia and Sezana. During the fire, over 4000 hectares of forest went up in smoke. This paper shows the use of Remote Sensing methodology in a GIS environment to measure the effects of the fire, i.e. to map the burnt area. The 2022 event has been assessed by elaborating some pre and post fire ESA Sentinel 2 imagery (Copernicus project). The authors mapped the burnt areas and compared the result with the official mapping, surveyed in the field by the public authorities. They also made a spatial evaluation
Nature, landscapes and sport. One hundred years of cycling with the Giro d’Italia. – The paper aims to examine the impact of the Giro d’Italia event, analyzing the importance of the bicycle both as a sporting, amateur, and tourist activity, and as a form of sustainable mobility that contributes to the ecological transition. The applied qualitative methodology focuses on the significance of documentary analysis, but primarily on the study of narratives in the promotional media of the event. The analytical tool, Nvivo12 software, was utilized. The green projects associated with the Giro d’Italia are designed to raise awareness and promote sustainability, demonstrating that sport is a lever of considerable value. However, there is likely a need for greater emphasis and dissemination of these narratives.
Territorial and geopolitical dynamics of the international professional tennis tour. – Major events, and in particular sports events, play an important role in contemporary society, mobilising huge amounts of resources and helping to delineate political, social and territorial phenomena of great interest. In this sense, just think of how many actors are involved in the organisation and management of competitions that, although they often take place in local contexts, are part of broader and more complex relational networks that often reach the international level. This contribution focuses on the territorial and geopolitical dynamics that characterise the major events of the international professional tennis tour. In particular, an attempt will be made to identify the logics underlying the geographical distribution of the different locations in an attempt to understand whether the choices depend on geopolitical reasons or are instead essentially linked to territorial characteristics or whether they depend on a mix of motivations. In addition, we aim to investigate whether and with what effects climate variations has already influenced or may influence the organisation of events on the international professional tennis tour in the future.
Le arti del vivere male: vite postindustriali e il rifiuto come evento. – Questo articolo esamina le sfide ambientali ed economiche affrontate dalle comunità in aree con economie estrattive, in particolare nella parte settentrionale della Virginia Occidentale. L’articolo mette in evidenza gli effetti dannosi dell’inquinamento industriale sull’aria, sul suolo, sull’acqua e sugli organismi viventi, che persistono anche dopo il declino delle industrie estrattive. Allo stesso tempo, l’argomentazione cerca di comprendere in che misura questi elementi riflettano le preoccupazioni degli attori locali e pongano loro delle sfide. In questo contesto, affronto i rifiuti come un
fenomeno che rimane sullo sfondo, ma anche come elemento con una scalarità e una temporalità che, come mostrato nell’articolo, possono essere ritenute più o meno rilevanti dagli attori locali. Inoltre, esploro in che modo i residenti organizzino la loro vita quotidiana come qualcosa da sopportare, dove gli elementi strutturali dell’economia e le opportunità offerte dall’area sono spesso considerate più rilevanti di quanto emerge dalle indagini che hanno alimentato questo articolo.
Eventi e festival nella promozione delle città secondarie da una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale: le grandi cinque città secondarie di eventi. – Nell’attuale contesto della New Economy e del Capitalismo Culturale Cognitivo, le città non competono esclusivamente per l’attrazione di flussi economici, ma sono piuttosto necessarie particolari forme di capitale culturale strettamente legate al turismo e al tempo libero, che ne enfatizzino prestigio, reputazione e identità. Si ritiene che eventi e festival culturali siano diventati indicatori statistici rappresentativi per valutare il sistema urbano globale da una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale. Seguendo una metodologia quantitativa implementata nella ricerca precedente, anche se ora ampliata e perfezionata, i risultati corroborano alcuni fatti significativi: i) la necessità di studiare il sistema urbano globale da una prospettiva multidimensionale, al di là dei criteri economici; ii) la necessità di concentrarsi non solo sulle principale città globali ma anche su quelle secondarie con particolare attenzione alle cosiddette “Big Five Secondary-Eventful Cities” che, grazie a questi eventi, sono culturalmente radicate nel panorama globale palcoscenico; iii) si conferma l’efficacia degli eventi sportivi e culturali in termini di posizionamento per le città ospitanti in una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale.
Feeding the city through events: Expo 2015 seen from Turin. – Among the various Italian cities that have employed events as a means of continuous relaunch and repositioning on the national and international stage, Milan and Turin have hosted the most significant mega-events in the last 20 years, as Expo 2015 in Milan and the 2006 Winter Olympics Games (WOG) in Turin and the forthcoming Milano-Cortina WOG 2026.
Especially on the Turin side, the relationship was mostly experienced in competitive terms, with a series of events and related specialisations, which originated in Turin and then migrated (‘subtracted’ from the Turin point of view) to Milan in particular.
This paper will examine the theme of food, which is central to the Expo 2015 event and to various minor events hosted in the two cities. Among these, the Turin-based kermesse Terra Madre (since 2004) – Salone del Gusto (since 1996) – stands out.
As a result of Expo, Milan has become one of the world’s leading food capitals, the first Italian city to adopt a structured food policy, and the founder of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) that started in October 2015 and by January 2024 had reached no less than 279 cities around the globe, including almost thirty in Italy. Turin has repeatedly at-tempted to represent itself as a food capital, also thanks to Terra Madre-Salone del gusto. Furthermore, it was the first Italian city to include the ‘right to food’ in its municipal statute.
This paper will attempt to deconstruct the narratives on the food-city re-lationship in Milan and Turin, largely triggered by the two major events. In the context of renewed competition for the 2026 Olympic bid, it will question the possibilities of collaboration around food spaces.
Major events and local identity. The case of “la notte della taranta” in Salento. – Major events are often created to enhance or regenerate territorial attractiveness. The goal is not only to maximize the economic and employment impacts that can directly affect the event itself but also to attract the attention of investors, tourists, and institutions to invest resources and projects in the territory. In reality, these events, in addition to their attractiveness purposes, also have generative purposes, potentially contributing to strengthening the sense of belonging within the local community, territorial cohesion, and, consequently, the affective and financial investment of individual inhabitants as well as the community as a whole. This contribution, starting from the analysis of the summarised interpretative framework, aims to evaluate the effects of the Notte della Taranta on the territory and the Salento identity over a quarter of a century.
Nearby tourism and local development. The unexpressed potential of the Lazio lakes. – In the last few years, due to global events, traveling has become increasingly complex. These difficulties have produced the birth of a new type of tourism: slow and proximity tourism. A type of tourism directed to nearby and little-known places. a type of tourism looking for outdoor activities, uncontaminated territories, a different way of appreciating local culture and the landscape. The Lazio Region is a large container of this type of tourism: historic villages, religious destinations, typical products and a landscape rich in rivers and lakes. In 2021, ARPA Lazio detected the presence of 20 lakes, different in geomorphological and hydrogeological characteristics, located throughout the regional territory, which are perfect for welcoming tourists looking for slow and proximity tourism. These lakes are exploited for tourism purposes only to a small extent. The objective of this contribution is to start a reflection on what has been done and what should be done, placing lakes at the center of sustainable development projects.
Mega events and urban spaces: Paris, Olympic City 2024. – Geographical reflection has now sedimented, through theoretical reflections and empirical analysis, the assumption that the organization of major events has disruptive effects on the balance, albeit always dynamic, of urban ecosystems. Infrastructure construction and preparatory governance processes are then accelerators of transformative dynamics that implicitly or explicitly impact the spaces and communities involved. The construction of the Olympic village in the St. Denis neighborhood for the 2024 Paris event explicitly seeks to intervene on the area’s marginal territorial milieu. Investment and infrastructure constitute the line of intervention on which, naturally, critical debate has been activated. This paper, based on a qualitative methodological approach, through Document analysis, and a number of field surveys aims to identify the main critical ribs specific to the case study.
Olimpiadi invernali e pianificazione spaziale: tra territorio locale e spazio regionale. – Nel corso della storia olimpica, l’edizione invernale ha subito trasformazioni significative nelle dimensioni spaziali, introducendo una nuova prospettiva critica sulla dimensione urbana. L’articolo analizza i diversi modelli spaziali delle Olimpiadi invernali attraverso indicatori statistici volti a un confronto quantitativo. Attraverso lo studio dei diversi modelli spaziali, verranno fornite nuove ipotesi sul rapporto tra le sedi olimpiche e il tessuto urbano, offrendo strumenti preziosi per valutare l’evento olimpico nell’area di riferimento. L’articolo esamina come la creazione di nuove strutture determinerà alcuni cambiamenti spaziali in grado di catalizzare nuovi impatti sulle connessioni interne della città e del territorio di riferimento.
Olympic territorializations: the case studies of Cortina and Bormio. – The material construction processes of Olympic territoriality have often triggered dialectics, controversies, and conflicts of a rather widespread political, social, and communicative nature, as emerged, also in the case of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, by the chronicles of recent months. These controversies unfold on multiple discursive levels. Firstly, on the legal level, which is the focal point around which revolve all the configurative conflicts of an environmental and landscape nature. Secondly, on the economic level through strategies of appropriation and access to territorial resources. Finally, on the political level in the dual dialectic of contrasts and different positions within administrations and between administrations and civil society. The study aims to investigate some of the outcomes of the projects and territorial transformations produced by the organization of the Milan-Cortina 2026 mega Olympic event, focusing in particular on the analysis of two case studies related to two infrastructures designed in mountain municipalities with a strong tourist characterization such as Cortina and Bormio. In this context, more specifically, controversies arising from the design of the bob track in Cortina and the so-called “Alute” bypass road in Bormio will also be considered.
V. Zelensky, J. Biden and the geography of body politics. – How does the body enter the media fabrication of the event? Does body politics have to do with the emotional characteristics of place? How can transcalarity, as the geographical foundation of geopolitics, be conceived not only in quantitative and dimensional terms, but also in qualitative and symbolic terms? To answer these kinds of questions, the essay analyzes the public profile of the corporality of Presidents V. Zelensky and J. Biden, on background of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis intertwined with the upcoming US presidential elections.
Geographers and cartographers from Sicily between the 16th and 19th centuries. – The study aims to analyze the development of geo-cartographic culture in Sicily between the 16th and 19th centuries in relation to the evolution of geographical studies in Europe induced by the progress of scientific knowledge and the discovery of new territories, the result of great geographical explorations.
After a brief examination of the affirmation of Geography between the Renaissance and the modern age in the various European countries and in Italy, the study will proceed in the delineation of the development of geo-cartographic culture in Sicily through the examination of the production of Sicilian geographers and cartographers, certainly minors and often misunderstood, active on the island between the 16th and 19th centuries, trying to grasp the most significant aspects in relation to the various events which, over time, have conditioned the island’s culture.
They are often exponents of the local aristocracy and of the clerical class open to culture and relationships with scholars from other countries who, acknowledging scientific progress, devoted themselves to geographical studies and elaborated cartographic surveys no less significant than those produced outside the Isola, certainly stimulated by the desire to know the peculiarities of the island in different historical moments, but sometimes by the need to study and graphically represent the changes induced on the land structure by natural events, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and plagues, or by episodes of war that exploded between the various political forces which tended to impose their power on the island.
The Queen’s Bodies: Transcalarity, Transmedia storytelling, Media events. – On 8 September 2022, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and also head of the British Commonwealth of Nations, passed away at the age of 96, after 70 years of reign. The funeral took place 11 days later, and constituted a mighty “media event”, involving some 4.5 / 5 billion spectators, for a ceremony lasting over 13 hours. In this context, the “queen’s bodies” are articulated in a composition that we can perhaps indicate as “binary duplicity”. On the one hand, following the classic path of Kantorowicz (1957), we observe the double body: physical and mystical. On the other hand, the corporal emblem rests on a double scalar reference: the nation and the empire. This essay, precisely, illustrates and interprets the model of the binary duplicity of the “queen’s body”, with the main purpose of: i) explore transcalarity as a geographical form of transmediality; ii) reflect on the role of the territorialization process in the constitution, development and outcome of media events.
The use of force in interstate relations: theory and evolutions in geo-political practice. – The use of force in relations between states and other players on the world stage: theory, practice and developments in political geography. Based on the experiences of the twentieth century (world wars, genocides, ideological-totalitarian degenerations, decolonization processes), the geopolitical thought of late modernity, starting from the 1960s, essentially develops in a “critical” sense. Then it assumes, among its favorite themes, the discussion on the essence of power (whether or not it is intrinsically “bad”), of the state and of politics (if they inevitably have to rely on the use of force); then it starts the development of a method targeted to regulation and prevention of conflicts, based on a process of deconstruction of alleged “false” ideas of power, to prevent the effects of escalation that have led the whole of humanity to the risk of destruction and self-destruction. These needs are translated operationally into the search for the so-called “insider” factors, that is, those that, in a certain scenario, beyond an immanent and self-evident “casus belli”, cause effects of permanent and out of control conflict, to the point of making war an element that justifies itself (an end, rather than a means). Effects that confuse any causal chain, which make it difficult to identify links and motivations, and therefore the search for a solution, and with it the pacification of crisis scenarios (which in fact tend to perpetuate themselves in areas of “endemic” conflictuality. All this proceeding on the basis of a neo-Enlightenment (possibly neo-liberal) assumption, which almost deterministically assumes the affirmation of an open society, refractory to violence, and the assimilation of “evil” to the mechanisms of democratization, to open market and capitalist prosperity. All this in a context of multilateral policy development, the establishment of international organizations, and the consolidation of a trans-national geo-economic apparatus, of civil society as an “answer to war”, with the aim of progressively limiting, up to cancel the same occasions of conflict; and this to the point that an idea of war as something obsolete spreads (perhaps in an illusory way). The latest events, however, and recent developments, seem to contradict this trend, re-proposing themes and tensions that ge-ographic-political theory seemed to have abandoned for some time. A fact made even more evident by the current invasion of Ukraine, which leaves you dismayed, like aggression to troglodytic times, when the invasion did not need to have a justification; it seems to cause deliberate violence and destruction on a large scale, so much so as to question the entire “critical” paradigm. Putin 24th February discourse deliberately denies the right of Ukraine to survive as a national human community. Evolutions that make it necessary to rethink the practices of limitation and regulation, of the intervention and prevention devices of war, and of the same method of study of the scenarios; perhaps a return to models that, just until a few months ago, were considered outdated.
Landscape education as a practice of geographical mediation in the processes of resignification of places and reduction of conflicts in San Lorenzo district in Rome. – San Lorenzo district has a marked historical-identity component which, however, has not managed to safeguard the neighbourhood from phenomena of deterritorialization and gentrification. The main cause of the recent condition of degradation and conflict has to be found in the urban layout which has triggered a series of interferences in the identity of the place, for example the external pressures exerted by the university. In this case, therefore, the “configurative profile” (Turco, 2010), made up of relationships, emotions and feelings, has been impoverished and has been transformed.
In this context are inserted the landscape education practices (Turco, 2020) promoted by geographers of Sapienza University of Rome, which propose themselves as cultural mediators in the process of re-signification of places and spaces. The presence in the field and the response to the cultural requests from the immediate surroundings of the University have been translated into events open to the public such as the International Night of Geography or the Roman Summer in San Lorenzo which combine the presence of institutions with activities of Public geography. The territory as a common good is such only if the community is the architect of its definition and recognizes the anthropological value of the space. In this direction, landscape education, strongly characterized on an emotional and cognitive level, contributes to implementing those reterritorialization processes which are the privileged tool of geography for the resolution of the impoverishment phenomena caused by situations of conflict and violence.

Campi Flegrei: nature and culture. Landscape, risk and everyday life. – The Campi Flegrei are an area of volcanic origin, located north of Naples, where geological events and eruptions have upset the geography of this territory/physical-chemical laboratory. The area has been a favorite place for anthropic settlement since ancient times: the strong presence of sulfur and nitrogen have made the Phlegraean soil very fertile and the presence of the sea makes the climate mild. The Phlegraean territory has welcomed famous Greek colonies and Roman centers of primary importance, such as Cuma, Dicearchia / Puteoli, Baia, Miseno and large modern manufacturing settlements. I intend to analyze the landscape results that have been created and perceived, trying to investigate the particular relationship between physical geography and human geography that has been formed in this territory, together with the considerations that emerge in relation to the risk that the Phlegraean community experiences daily and social vulnerability and environmental peculiar to the area. 

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.

Gli impatti ambientali delle attività sportive. Le buone pratiche di sostenibilità. Il caso del golf. – Lo studio intende evidenziare l’intensa e difficile relazione tra sport e ambiente prendendo in esame il caso del golf, uno sport che richiede una pianificazione e gestione dei percorsi più attenta e consapevole degli impatti ambientali, non solo per fronteggiare le pressioni esterne esercitate da coloro che denunciano gli effetti negativi sull’ambiente del golf, ma anche per ragioni economiche e pratiche di gioco. Efficienza energetica e uso di fonti rinnovabili, risparmio idrico, riduzione di prodotti chimici, limitazione dei rifiuti; conservazione della biodiversità; sensibilizzazione del pubblico sono obiettivi determinanti per l’affermazione dello sport sostenibile, una dimensione che esige, da un lato, l’impegno delle organizzazioni sportive, dei responsabili di eventi e di tutti gli stakeholder a vario titolo coinvolti di perseguire dette finalità e, dall’altro, un costante interesse e sostegno della ricerca scientifica per promuovere nuove conoscenze e comprendere le dinamiche del rapporto tra sport e ambiente.

Atmosfere come indicatori socio-ecologici. – Lo stato ecologico della natura sta sempre più diventando un problema esistenziale per l’uomo. Sebbene la conoscenza disponibile sulla natura si stia ampliando, la capacità di giudizio non sta aumentando della stessa misura. Tra l’altro, spetta alla ragione mediare tra il sentimento e la razionalità. Perché questo accada, tuttavia, i sentimenti devono essere presi seriamente in considerazione a livello sociale, poiché attraverso i sentimenti le atmosfere permettono agli uomini di sentire proprio-corporalmente (leiblich) in quale situazione essi si trovano. L’esempio della catastrofe nucleare di Chernobyl illustra la diversità delle possibili atmosfere che fuoriescono e si “irradiano” da un disastro. Vengono analizzate cinque diverse atmosfere in relazione alla loro funzione. L’esempio mostra anche come gli stati d’animo (Stimmungen) influenzano le atmosfere, ponendole al servizio dell’ideologia. La comunicazione atmosferica della fusione del reattore non porta alla riflessione critica, ma al livellamento ideologico e al marketing turistico di un “evento”.

A public geography note. Not exactly encouraging signs on ecological transition in Italy. – There is quite a lot of narrative around ecological transition (ET) these days, especially with reference to the post-covid 19 economic recovery. In Italy, within the Draghi’s gov, a special Ministry has been established to that purpose. We shall clarify, however, that the ET approach is not only a sequence of actions to fix what was damaged on the territory, or a number of punctual works here and there. It’s rather a wide prospect with multiple sub-sets that will evolve in the long term through a coher-ent set of transcalar measures.
Two events oppose this ET idea, both happening in Italy during the course of May 2021: i) the return of the “nuclear discourse”; ii) the re-duction of the Sirente-Velino Regional Park size.
We will discuss about this shortly, looking at it from a public geography perspective. In addition, we will summarize some of those critical ele-ments of the ET ongoing implemented practices.

The experienced space between mobility and Covid-19 restrictions. – If it is true that lived space represents our becoming and our being individual in our society, any variation on it, it implicates for the human race a physical, mental and relational disturbance. Human being lives in his territory and territory is modeled, for better or for worse, by human being. Global events, such as pandemics, force human being to confront himself with an enemy more and more underhand, able to undermine his certainties, gained until today.
Daily mobility has to be reconsidered in a new way; principles, for example, as The Schengen Agreement, is put to the test, causing a block in every region, and calling into doubt the worth of the same principle.
Which scenarios shall we face at the end of this pandemic? How is human being going to take on global future events? And what restrictions are adaptable to our freedom and democracy? Are we ready to face them?

Shipwreck with Spectator: Epidemics and Society in the Ancient World. – Starting from the meaning of the Greek word epidemia, the paper highlights its topographical and social connotation (“stay at home, stay in a city”), from Homer to Hippocrates. It then moves on to scrutinize some of the most impactful epidemic events in ancient Greece and Rome, focusing on their social and political consequences, on the geographic spread and the medical features. These events are the Athenian plague of 431 BCE, the epidemic cough of Perinthos as told by Hippocrates, and the Antoninian plague in Rome around 166 CE; the paper also recalls the so-called plague of Justinian, whose fateful aftermath has been often related to the end of the Roman empire. A possible connection is also discussed between the Antoninian plague in Rome and a very similar epidemics taking place in the same years in China, at a time when the first direct contacts between the two empires were established. Eventually, a reflec-tion upon the different perceptions of an epidemics is offered.

 

Sport, Tourism and environment: rethinking local development in the times of Covid-19. – The contribution aims to try to imagine possible territorial development paths starting from the relaunch of individual and team sports, from sporting events driving tourism and from the environment, parks and biodiversity. The costs, in social and economic terms, that Covid-19 is causing on sport and tourism, can only be absorbed if we can quickly identify new forms and new methods of practice and social consumption. The organizational reconfigurations that will concern three major sporting events such as the Tokyo Olympics, the Winter Olympics in Cortina, the Ryder Cup in Rome can serve as a laboratory to rethink a new local development that serves as a basis for rebuilding trust in a global dimension that today it seems tarnished.

 

Covid-19: outcomes of the pandemic on spatial-temporal remodulation. – The Covid-19 emergency has modified the time and manner of experiencing everyone‟s space, but above all it has represented an historically unprecedented shock. In the face of this event, previously unknown in the long history of humanity and the promotor of profound consequences on a global scale, we should give some thought to both the geographical interpretative keys with regard both to the rhythms of time and the con-tractions and dilations of space, and the new forms of organization in living time and space.
Covid-19 between north and south of the world. – The article takes on a dialectical and relational vision of the metabolic relationship with nature. In this perspective, viruses are constantly changing in order to survive and the circumstances in which a mutation becomes dangerous depend on human actions. What are the factors that contribute to the spread of epidemics and their rapid transformation into pandemic event? A possible answer is precisely in the historical process: when geographic boundaries become blurred and the world is interconnected, pathogens spread faster, because they travel with goods, animals, plants and with man. And the human being is a node of relationships in all directions, beyond time and space. If we are able to recognize the value and dignity of every human being, we will have started to defeat the pandemic.

Geographical scattering in the inner areas in the diffusion of covid-2019. –Regarding the high probability, highlighted by the epidemiologists regarding the repetition in the near future of other epidemic events, this contribution is aimed to highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary preventive strategy. This value was declined according to the specific geographical perspective, offering some ideas on phenomena typically subject to study of the discipline that could for the future constitute an important source of direction in the system of support for strategic decisions of a medical-political type used during pandemic phenomena.
Particularly, the phenomenon of the geographical scattering characterizing the internal areas was investigated, which unfortunately has been confirmed in the real spread of the Covid-19 epidemic.

The Pandemic between Evidence and Knowledge. – The pandemic’s hold on our lives represents a moment of crisis with regards to what really impacts our ways of life, having introduced in our everyday existence not only the fear of infection but also the even more distressful fear of death. The fact that Covid-19 was an unpredictable event has made any form of defence impossible, thus acquiring the characteristic of a tragedy. This aspect has forced us to change our perspective on reality as well as forcing us to revise our belief in a Science capable of dealing with the consequences of the unthinkable, therefore losing the sense of security that its indisputable progress had led us to live in. Consequently, the need to reconsider the worth of some well-established ways of thinking, as well as reconsidering the importance of some categories of values such as ethics and the common good has come about.

Global Event and Local Responses: The Case of the Flu Pandemic 1918-1919. – The experience of the flu pandemic in the year 1918 is considered an important event for understanding the First World War. The flu showed the interconnection due to political-military, commercial, information and news that allowed the virus to be physically transported to every continent and from there to find the possibility of spreading in every nation. Beyond the medical- health characteristics and the consequences derived from its seriousness, this episode shows the ability reached since the early years of the twentieth century to think of itself as an interconnected network that was used by the disease to advance rapidly and pro-voke its harmful consequences.

Covid-19, from Venice to Wuhan: a historical recognition and potential mutations of globalization. – The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic follow an east-west direction (from Asia via Europe to the Americas) which matches the flow of Modernity. This work aims to assess how these events are resulting in a comeback of what we might envisage as modern measurable space in Geography, through a historical comparison with containment measures put in place in the 18th century by Venice, during the plague. Indeed, Venice may be considered an archetype of global powers dealing with risk management issues and struggling to harmonize public health policies with the „needs‟ of trade. After offering an overview of the most common containment measures put in place by the countries affected by Covid-19, we will see how some of the measures implemented by the Venetians are showing their effectiveness today, and we will assess the extent to which the space recovered in this process is likely to transform the idea of globalization as it was known up until very recently.

Community Readiness for Local Covid-19 Management. – In these days, we are learning important lessons in citizen science. Today, local administrations must equip themselves with the management of infrastructures (unimaginable before Covid-19) for enforcing social distance and tracking positive cases. One of the tasks that geographers are expected to take up is the determination of the levels of societal readiness, the levels of integration in society of new technologies, products and services. The pandemic requires policies of social and cultural innovation that make communities ready to respond to catastrophic events on their territory through access to data, communities of practice, co-creation, reflection and inclusion. Finally, Covid-19 ought not to undermine the work done so far to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1 (Poverty), 3 (Health), 4 (Education), 5 (Gender), 6 (Water), 8 (Work), 10 (Inequalities) and 16 (Peace). Pope Francis has made it clear: «This is the moment to see the poor».

The Great War of Geography. – The First World War has been considered a turning point in the evolution of Italian geography. Following an unusual perspective this paper does not focus on the internal events of the discipline, but especially presents the implications of the very political and social transformations on it. Significant factors of the analyzed decisive historical period are therefore highlighted: the politicization of the discipline, the self-perception geographers had of their role, their relationship with ruling classes and with the public.

Land use changes, human activities (deforestation, agriculture, urban sprawl, ecc.) and abnormal weather events are the common reasons of hydrological problems like floods or landslides. Neglecting the terraced landscape, for example, reduced several times the drainage capacity of the water network surface, increasing the hydrological risks. In this paper we study terraced agricultural system of two villages (Prosecco and Contovello) near Trieste. First at all, we gave a detailed description of this rural landscape. Then, we applied a GIS analysis in order to evaluate main changes in the last forty years, overlaying not homogeneous cartography sources (aerial IGM photos of the 1974 and current ortophotos). So, we identified neglecting processes and reforestation dynamics of this terraced landscape. In a restyling perspective, we identified main local tourist attractions. Finally, we hypothesized a pathway aimed at sustainable tourism.

La Via degli Abruzzi: old routes to new territories. – The contribution aims to consider the Via degli Abruzzi, if supported, as a picture and as an input for the assertion of original territoriality from the extraordinary values that has accumulated and articulated over time, will work as a specific brand of network. A project of renewed fruition of the Via of Abbruzzi, to promote attractiveness of the region, through magnifying glass bet on the  territory of Aquila as a critic subject that  still living events of deterritorialization far from being resolved, also the bearer of the instances of some territories in difficulty, not only local or regional.

The depth of the changes taking place in the area object of the present study is of such importance as to ask questions about the features that this urban space should take in the process of growth of the Capital city. In the perspective of this evolution even more importance is given to what happens in the suburb area, which pertains to and is managed by the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. The difficulties faced by the local authorities bring to the attention a new need arisen from the interest in finding resources to proceed with and accomplish a project of functional redefinition, which seems hard to be implemented. The 2009 World Aquatics Championships seemed to be a good opportunity, since it was thought that the construction of the sport structures would let to resume the project of urban requalification of the areas of Tor Bella Monaca and Torre Gaia, which are known to be dominated by lack of planning that has its roots in the Fifties of the last century and in which the influence of organized crime is overbearing. A new occasion, always connected with a major event, seemed to emerge to relaunch the possibility of implementing this project. All involved institutions and local authorities seemed to agree that the 2020 Olympic Games could be the right chance to reorganize this territory. In this direction, the size of the planned measures continues to change and, consequently, the disorientation of residents, while an investigation on different scales of the potential and of future possible difficulties seems to be essential.
difficulties seems to be essential.