Transhumance and Mathematics. Pretexts and links. – In this paper, places, routes, things, forms, encounters relating to transhumance are used as a pretext to show how many mathematical ideas are present and can be connected to reality even to what might seem very distant from the world of an hard science. Connections, sheep tracks, are created between two very lateral worlds: mathematics and transhumance. Transhumance, its places, its characters, becomes an opportunity to refer to concepts, principles, theorems explained first with convivial language, like sheep tracks, and then, when necessary, with formal language. We speak, for example, of the theory of fractals to measure the length and windingness of sheep tracks, to draw the mountains or the nature crossed by men and animals or to plot some plants of the territory; of isoperimetric theorems to justify the shape of pens and enclosures for animals; of mathematical curves and surfaces that describe the shepherd's wooden stick or the shape of a local cheese. Finally, by using mathematical techniques, we show and analyze some sounds of transhumance: bleating, bellowing, cowbells and whistles of a shepherd.

Enhancement policies of sheep tracks network and local development: a renewed challenge for Abruzzo. − Abruzzo cultural landscape has been shaped by the practice of transhumance, which supported the process of urban transformation and economically sustained the social fabric. The inclusion, in 2019, of transhumance in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage gave a chance to rethink regional initiatives aimed at defining projects for the enhancement of sheep tracks which testify the will to create new tourist opportunities and to activate broader local development projects. The “Parcovie 2030 - The Transhumance that unites” project fits into this context. The aim of this paper is to verify the progress of this project (with a critical assessment of the role played by governance), considering the potentialities of the territory, also with regard to the demographic and socio-economic capital endowment shown by the areas crossed by these paths.