Risultati per "landscape"

Listening to the nights of Fez a fragmentary narrative. – In how many ways can one listen to a city – or rather the city – that excludes the noise of traffic while preserving the ancestral channelling and sonic configurations of its alleys and of materials belonging to a time discreet yet not immobile? The soundscape of the medina of Fez emerges not only as a visual space, but as a stratified acoustic landscape, oscillating between public, discreet, and sheltered spaces on the one hand, and private, reverberant, and communal ones on the other. The calls to prayer from the minarets, the flight of storks, and both human and non-human voices contribute to the construction of a sonic geography that defines urban spatiality. Architecture itself functions as an acoustic device that amplifies, attenuates, or trans-forms sounds, making Fez one of the most significant “cities of sound” in the world. Nighttime, in particular, discloses the sonic intimacy of the me-dina, transforming it into a natural conservatory of phonetic effects—an intangible heritage belonging not only to history, but also to the daily practices and sensory perceptions of its inhabitants
Counter-Geographies of Wine: Marginal Viticultural Practices and the Transition To-ward a Post-Alcoholic Enotourism. The Role of Acquata. – This article proposes a critical re-reading of contemporary wine geographies through the notion of counter-geographies, focusing on acquata—a traditional post-fermentative beverage derived from the rehydration of grape pomace—as an epistemic and territorial device capable of reconfiguring the cultural and ecological meanings of wine production. Building on the theoretical framework of post-alcoholic enotourism, the study explores how emerging “NoLo” (no- and low-alcohol) consumption regimes intersect with transformations in rural landscapes, sustainability policies, and socio-symbolic practices of conviviality. Historical and geographical analysis reveals that acquata, far from being a marginal residue of pre-industrial viticulture, embodies a vernacular knowledge system rooted in circular use of resources, social equity, and ecological restraint. Its historical erasure through modern regulatory frameworks reflects broader processes of epistemic and territorial exclusion within capitalist agri-food regimes. By reactivating ac-quata as a cultural and political tool, the paper advances the hypothesis of a regenerative geography of wine, in which residual practices and marginal knowledges serve as generative forces for more inclusive, sustainable, and plural forms of enotourism and territorial identity.
“Erasing landscape to make space”. The protection of Palestinian olive trees as a practice of territorial control.
Photographic representation of biodiversity and countercurrent aesthetics of marine landscapes. – Questioning the role of images in the communication and valorization of biodiversity, as well as in the constitution of cultural geographic imaginaries and environmental sensibilities, this paper focuses on the aesthetics of marine landscapes in some contemporary artistic and activist practices. More specifically, it investigates the function of photography in the construction and deconstruction of stereotypes related to coastal areas and islands (between artistic traditions and tourist imaginaries), thus in the representation of issues related to biodiversity. Contrary to approaches that tend to show marine landscapes exclusively as picturesque or sublime sceneries, projects such as Else, All Will Be Still (Ravi Agarwal, 2013-2015), After the Storm (Amy Balkin, 2016), The Shape of Water Vanishes in Water (Marina Caneve, 2018) and Invisible – Paysages productifs (Nicolas Floc’h, 2018-2020), seek to express the environmental, social and economic inequalities aggravated by climate change and its consequences on marine biodiversity.
The new opportunities offered by immersive and inclusive technologies to represent and rediscover the complex relationship between human communities and water resources. – In order to know, represent and interpret the complex relationship between water landscapes and human communities the new technologies (immersive cartography, three-dimensional web, augmented reality, 3D environments) represent extraordinary and functional tools both for research and for territorial information and promotion actions in terms of tourism. Evidence of this is the project “Tourist Itineraries to Discover the Waters of Italy”, conceived and promoted by the GECOAGRI LANDITALY Interuniversity Research Group Association and financed by ACEA, aimed at promoting a process of water resource enhancement in the dimension of environmental, economic and social sustainability. The authors through some exemplifications and using a methodology of operational analysis, characterized by new syntaxes, reconstruct with the help of augmented reality and immersive technologies, as well as the canonical geocartographic and documentary sources, the material and immaterial dimension of the water resource in the Conca reatina, Umbilicus Italiae, where the sociocultural dynamics underlying the relationship between water and population, narrate experiences of vulnerability and development, participation and conflict, protection and threat. Through 10 ten interactive and implementable totem-stations, it is possible to embark on an inclusive and participatory journey that allows people to explore even inaccessible places. Not only video and audio, historical and thematic cartographies, photos and three-dimensional images, but also drone shots from which to observe from above what nature and culture have achieved and, if necessary, to land in particular places reconstructed through augmented reality that allows one to observe them as they were and as they are today, making clear the processes of transformation of which signs and sedimentations remain in the landscape palimpsest.
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.
The management of water resources in mountain contexts in ecological transition. – The frequency and concatenation of environmental and climatic phenomena requires a reflection on our way of managing the change, and in this direction the principle of “custody of the high lands” enhances the awareness of the communities on ecosystem services related to the precious water resources, essential to the biodiversity and the basis of stable economies for the mountain. The contribution intends to build a critical framework on interventions oriented to stem the water crises, adopted in the most vulnerable national mountain areas but which at-tempt the difficult territorial transition path on the climate tendency scenarios. The strategies will be analyzed, promoted by regional legislation and innovative regulations, for the territorialization of the actions on the management of the resource, but also complex projects and multi-sectoral studies with direct repercussions on physical and cultural landscapes, which therefore lead to inclusive forms of governance and participate.
Water resources as an engine of local development: the case of the “water villages” of Rasiglia and Borghetto. – There are several cities have made water their hall-mark of tourist attractiveness and socio-economic development. In Italy, this category includes all the large coastal cities (such as Venice, Naples, Cagliari or Palermo) or those crossed by large rivers (Bologna, Florence, Rome), the centers that have sprung up on the edges of large lakes (Riva del Garda, Bolsena, Bracciano, etc. ) or those known because they are linked to the presence of hot springs (Saturnia, Montecatini, Fiuggi Acqui, etc.), but also the localities that bear precisely the title of “water village” and thus make it a distinctive and characteristic element. It is precisely these small and charming villages, hamlets of municipalities in inland areas, scattered in the various regions of Italy that over time have been able to enhance water both as a landscape element but also as an element of production and economic development, that are the subject of this contribution. Among these, the cases of Rasiglia and Borghetto will be analyzed to describe the role that technology in the past has played in building the relationship of these localities with water, the role it has today and could have in the next future to contribute to their path toward building a circular economy and thus sustainable development.
Landscape and proximity fruition in the Euganean Hills context: reflections from an educational experience. – Tourism-recreational practices are often framed through dichotomous concepts such as near/far, familiar/unfamiliar, tourist/local, and everyday/exotic. With this awareness, we proposed a didactic laboratory within the Master’s degree program in Landscape Science at the University of Padua to address the following research question: What role does the experience of landscape play in reconsidering these dichotomous approaches? We analysed the Euganean Hills area in the Padua province exploring four specific contexts, two historical houses and two museums, where the relationship with the landscape is defined by practices of proximity and specific connections with natural and cultural heritage values. The research was based on desk analysis of demographic and tourism data, strategic and promotional documents, visits and interviews. Dialogue with local operators, their perspectives on local communities and the direct immersion in the landscape unveiled the multiple ways in which the Euganean landscape is understood and promoted for leisure purposes. What emerged is the plurality of discourses and images, places and initiatives, often co-created ‘from below’, that define and redefine the landscape. Tracing the variety of proximity visits, experienced similarly by residents and tourists through an interesting hybridisation process mixing roles, motivations and space sharing, allows to overcome dichotomies and open up new spaces for reflection and local planning.
Territorial education through the rivers. The “Flowing with the rivers” public engagement project. – The contribution reflects on how the value of water resources in the ecological transition can be shared and strengthened through geo-graphical education. In particular, the Public Engagement project “Flow-ing with the rivers”, financed with 48,500 euros by the University of Turin, whose objective was the development of an educational model to sustainably reconstruct the relationships between human communities and territory around water as a resource and fundamental element in all relationships between natural and human systems. The project activities developed between 2021 and 2023, concentrating the action on the territory between Turin and Savigliano, in particular between the Po, Tanaro and Maira rivers, and involved universities, associations, schools with teachers, students and parents, citizens, media and local administrations. The involvement of local communities was considered a basis of geographical education, starting from the idea that through awareness of the ecological, cultural and economic value of rivers it is possible to arrive at a plan for life, care and sustainable development that produces a social and cultural change in the valorization and management of water resources. The interdisciplinary working group, scientifically directed by Cristiano Giorda, involved fifteen researchers from six different departments and scientific areas. The main methodology followed was that of territorial education through outdoor education and place and art based learning activities, ca-pable of territorialising the scientific and artistic dimensions with skills linked to territorial values, landscape, sustainable development -bile and active citizenship.
Home tourism for a destination proposal: the Prenestini Mountains. – The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a significant shift in tourism patterns, particularly favoring domestic and proximity-based travel. This study investigates the impact of these changes on the Prenestini Mountains, a mountainous area near Rome. By analyzing data on tourism infrastructure, local initiatives, and community engagement, it is explored how the region has adapted to the new tourism landscape. Findings reveal that while the pandemic initially disrupted the tourism industry, it also presented opportunities for local development. The Prenestini Mountains has seen an increase in near-home tourism, particularly among hikers. The study highlights the importance of local products, cultural heritage, and sustainable tourism practices in attracting visitors. Furthermore, it is discussed the role of local communities, institutions, and networks in shaping the region’s tourism future. By leveraging its natural beauty, agricultural heritage, and proximity to Rome, the Prenestini Mountains has the potential to become a destination for sustainable and experiential tourism.
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.
Redefining the city-river relationship: a look at the Turin area. – The relationship between the city and the river is being profoundly redefined in the context of the water crisis, in the relationship between the natural and the built environment. The paper will focus on the case of Turin, where deindustrialisation has led to morphological, functional and symbolic transformations of previously industrialized areas, with a new process of landscape construction, in some cases based on the heritage of the industrial past, in others on a new meaning (re)attributed to the environment, as the main physical and symbolic dimension of the re-territorialisation of post-indus-trial spaces. This paper focuses on the relationship between rivers and cities, and in particular on how rivers are once again becoming a (potentially) founding element of post-industrial landscapes. We will draw on some case studies in the Turin area, where the river emerges as a potentially structuring element in rethinking places deeply marked by deindustrialisation and in imagining and constructing a new landscape.
Urban regeneration and tourism in peripheral neighbourhoods: the case of Bagnoli (Naples). – This article deals with the relationship between suburbs, urban regeneration and tourism development by addressing the case of Bagnoli, a former industrial district on the western outskirts of Naples. Bagnoli is a coastal neighbourhood which preserves the dismissed facilities and the social landscape from its industrial past and is still struggling to fully implement a regeneration process that would allow it to regain its ancient tourist vocation. However, the new debate and the new planning ferment that seem to be developing around the issue today perhaps justify cautious optimism: If good intentions are followed by concrete facts, it could actually be possible to get out of this thirty-year impasse and enhance the territorial resources of Bagnoli, which range from sea bathing to thermalism, from traditional to innovative kinds of cultural tourism.
Proximity tourism and enhancement of the returning artistic-cultural heritage. – In marginal contexts, it is conceivable to think of a reflection on proximity tourism through artistic-cultural initiatives that dialogue with the landscape, highlighting the disparities in development between territories. Within the framework of this approach, the activity of relocating artworks emerges as an innovative strategy to transform the artistic heritage into an engine of revitalization and alternative fruition, while promoting local tourism. This approach is evident in various projects, including that of the MIC called “100 artworks come home”. This initiative aims to return artworks preserved in the deposits of 14 Italian museums, moving them to their places of creation to reconnect them to the historical and cultural context that inspired them. This study aims to explore the potential of this practice, analyzing some experiences to try to understand whether relocation (from the museum to the place of creation or first location) has generated ways of use capable of stimulating tourist dynamics and contributing to the attractiveness of villages and small towns. The lines of reflection that we intend to propose are therefore to seek a possible reading of proximity tourism with a view to enhancing the widespread artistic-cultural heritage and to reason precisely on the link between territory and heritage in terms of reconfiguring the dynamics of concentration (flows, cultural heritage...)
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.
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.
Literaly journey in the Tuscia of Divine Comedy. – In the field of Odeporic geography, many scholars have commented on the theme of the journey linked to the name of Dante Alighieri (Cavalieri, 2015; Ferroni, 2015) and as Ferroni (2015) claims we might consider conferring on Dante the competence of geographer. In fact, it is sufficient to read the descriptions of the various Italian places (which he directly or indirectly knows) and their physical-geographical aspects to understand, through a real journey in the Dantesque era, the characteristics of the landscape within which the Comedy is narrated. Through an in-depth reading of the cantos, the goal of this paper is to propose a Dantean itinerary in Tuscia, tracing places, symbols and images. The methodological analysis also included an online survey to verify the existence of similar proposals and a search to examine the feasibility of the itinerary. To achieve this result, ISTAT data (2019-2021) on the tourist movement in the area were also collected. The stages of the proposed itinerary, therefore, concern the historic center of Viterbo and the Urban Park of Bullicame, Bolsena and Bagnoregio.
What the history of geography is about? Academic and widespread geographic knowledge during the First World War. – The First World War influenced the spread of culture, both in form and content. This phenomenon no less affects geography, with the alteration of the traditional balance between academic and widespread knowledge. Diversification of the protagonists and the heterogeneity of expressive forms becomes the characteristic of a radically transformed geographic landscape relative to the full, largely static and approved, picture of prior times.
By adopting an inductive research methodology that takes its cue from the empirical evidence of the profound structural changes that occurred in geographical production in Italy during the Great War, this article questions the protagonists of the discipline, reaching conclusions that could perhaps also be extended to the analysis of other historical periods: the need to overcome the narrow conception of the history of the discipline, which is focused upon the internal affairs of academia, in favour of a view which acknowledges the articulated complexity and plurality of geographical knowledge.
Il gioco del Pincaro (o della Campana, a seconda delle regioni) è stato una pratica che, nell’infanzia di molti di noi, è servita a conquistare equilibrio e capacità di concentrazione. Il volume curato da Andrea Latini e Marco Maggioli (che trae origine dalle attività di ricerca sviluppate nell’ambito del progetto nazionale Greening the visual: an Environmental Atlas of Italian Landscapes) ha, in chi scrive queste righe, lo stesso effetto di quel gioco infantile.
Paesaggi transumanti: a variable geometry approach to interpreting the relational flows of nomadic transhumant pastoralism in Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. – For centuries, a particular type of entrepreneur has been traversing the countryside of Friuli Venezia Giulia, climbing up the valleys and reaching the mountain pastures: they are the nomadic transhumant shepherds. The shepherds do not only make a vertical oscillatory journey that connects the mountains to the plains, but move with perpetual horizontal motion, which sees the herds make daily movements covering an area that affects the green spaces of almost the entire territory of the region, including protected areas, bringing out management and relational conflicts that deserve to be investigated. Despite urbanization, infrastructure and industrialization, transhumant pastoralism continues to exist and stands as an interesting example - complex and full of ambiguity - of resilience and sustaina-bility. “Paesaggi transumanti” is a research project that integrates disciplines of geography, ethnography and contemporary art. The article pre-sents a mapping updated to 2023 of transhumant shepherds in Friuli Ve-nezia Giulia and a proposal for the interpretation of the regional landscape according to their specific point of view.
Transhumance and landscape: relationship between settlements and tractural roads in central southern Italy – The study analyzes the historical and spatial evolution of the settlement system in central-southern Italy, with reference to Abruzzo aquilano, affected by the phenomenon of transhumant farming. The main element examined is the historical evolution of the settlement
structure with respect to the tractural ways, understood as a fundamental morphogenetic element of the urban systems and the landscape. The objective of the analysis is the identification of a series of elements useful for the protection and enhancement of the paths and of the historical and landscape pre-existences attributable to the phenomenon. The methodol-ogy is based on the analysis of the bibliography, especially recent innovative elements about the degradation of the “Tratturi” system, and, with cartographic analyzes and in situ surveys, it defines the critical issues and the territorial resources to lay the basis for a valorization project.
Transhumance and landscape conservation in Northeastern Italy. An open question – With Apparent relic of a world close to extinction, the practice of transhumance is today reconsidered because of both its own important cultural heritage, and the role played in landscape management. While roaming and crossing complex landscapes as those of mountains and lowlands, animals and shepherds become actors of micro-processes of maintenance and regeneration, creating relationships between rural and urban systems. But this role is far from being socially recognized everywhere, and often transhumance practitioners are left alone, or even obstructed, by political and administrative structures. Starting from the results gathered during the Erasmus+ project TRANSFARM, employing field research, mapping and policy analysis, this article focuses on the constantly changing relational space of the North-Eastern regions of Italy: in this complex context the practice of transhumance and its issues become an opportunity for highlighting the deep inter-connection between mountains and lowlands and a still scarce consideration of the importance of transhumance in landscape management among herders, administrations and planning practice.
The relational space of transhumance: practices, values, visions. – In the past few decades, the study of transhumance has shifted from documenting a declining practice to adopting a more comprehensive approach, integrating heritage studies, political ecology, and the analysis of territorial resignification dynamics. This monographic issue aims to emphasize an articulated and relational perspective on the phenomenon. By using both old and new transhumance practices as a foundation for exploring forms of territoriality, the focus lies on the interplay between mobility and the creation of patrimonial value, cultural landscapes, and governance processes. The central question addressed is whether an operational approach to transhumance routes can effectively reconnect the past and the future. The contents of the volume are organized to prioritize research objectives, with contributions concentrating on the knowledge and patrimonialization of transhumance areas at risk of abandonment, ultimately aiming to preserve their ecological, biological, and cultural values.
Forms of Resistance at the Margin of the City. The Vesuvian Area and the Environmental Issue across territories and representations. – This contribution proposes an exploration of the forms of civil and artistic resistance developed at the margins of the metropolitan city of Naples and, in particular, it focuses on the Vesuvian area and the environmental issue. It develops through cognitive path that considers the dialogue between the Mount Vesuvius and the community of his habitants, as well as the link between artistic production and environmental struggle, which characterize many narratives that come from these places since the Seventies. From Operazione Vesuvio project to the land art installation of Salvatore Emblema, the article highlights a chain of radical environmental sensitivity, which, despite the environmental devastation and social rarefaction of this zone of marginality, propose new ways of coexistence with the environment and the natural landscape.
Itineraries in the Rome of immaterial art: between sidewalk, traffic lights and interstitial spaces. – The interest of geography for the urban art (street or public art) has increased in recent years. Not all the arts that take shape in the city leave a tangible mark in the urban space that can produce new rela-tionships and territoriality (Brighenti e Reghellin, 2007). There are also extemporaneous performances – which can be admired only when they are realized – and immaterial performances – which do not mark the ter-ritory with the localization of a semi-permanent product. Precisely because these forms of art are immaterial and not constantly visible, they are fluid and “elusive” even in the eyes of those who wish to investigate them. Therefore: marginal is considered the artist who practices them (Caccamo, 2005); marginal are defined some urban spaces frequented by artists and geographies that investigate these forms of art. In this contribution some itineraries will be presented, built in three years of field research in Rome, that connect the urban spaces of immaterial art.
Transhumance paths in the Tuscan Maremma: community and territorial development. – The practice of transhumance in Tuscany, now reinterpreted beyond its pastoral context, serves as an opportunity for territorial development. The CamBio Via project in Tuscany, for instance, aims to enhance transhumance routes by integrating cultural Heritage and landscape. The decline of transhumance is correlated to socio-economic changes and the abandonment of rural areas, however, projects like CamBio Via seek to preserve and promote this tradition by fostering sus-tainable routes and providing training for shepherds. Transhumance, alt-hough declining, continues to play a crucial role in the relationship be-tween rural life and mountain environments, contributing to biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management. The tourist
valorisation of transhumance routes, as emphasized by initiatives like the Cammini, represents an opportunity to preserve and transmit this ancient rural practice. This overall purpose can be achieved also through means such as short films and documentaries able to narrate its history and current challenges.
Edgar Degas: from public space to landscape. For a configurative geography of the Belle époque. – Edgar Degas geographer. The artist “does” geography, that is, he gives territorial meanings to the spaces that he crosses and that he represents. The impressionist painter participates in artialisation, which is an essential cultural ingredient in the construction of emotional territoriality. And he also contributed to the strengthening of the spirit of the Belle époque, thanks to the landscaping that the society of the time equipped itself with. Once again proposing geography as the outcome and condition of the territorialization process, in its triple articulation: constitutive, configurative and ontological.
Cambiamenti socio-spaziali ed economici nel paesaggio rurale del Brasile e Italia. – The present work aims to understand, through qualitative research, the socio-spatial and economic changes in the rural landscape of Brazil and Italy, observing rural tourism as a very strong potential of the rural landscape in the two countries studied. In this sense, the role of landscape is analyzed as a structuring element in rural space which, through its marks left in space, tells the story of different areas over time and contributes to adding material and symbolic value to the development of rural tourism. Therefore, as it is a process that has been occurring worldwide in recent decades, we will identify in a comparative way the different aspects related to rural tourism and landscape in Brazil and Italy. In this sense, in the face of historical-geographical research, we will analyze the main elements of the landscape for Geography and how rural tourism appropriates them for its development, relating it to the socio-spatial and economic aspects of each country.
Wetlands, leaf fodder trees and ancient grasslands: a characterization of the environmental heritage of transhumance. – For centuries, transhumance has been a socio-economic system capable of shaping mountain landscapes and environments. The paper presents two case studies aimed at identifying the historical-ecological traces of seasonal breeding systems to characterize the environmental legacy of transhumance. The proposed approach enables the evaluation of the positive externalities of past pastoral practices in terms of vegetation resources activation (leaf-fodder trees, ancient grasslands) and water resources maintaining (springs, ponds, small lakes, peat-bogs, etc.).
The Geography of Dante explained to children. – During the 7th century since Dante’s death, a broad reflection on the character and his work has developed, particularly on the value the text retains in the present day.
This contribution has focused on the didactic potential that the text and the illustrations of the places of the Divine Comedy can have in order to introduce children to an understanding of the symbolic and paradigmatic value of the landscape.
Participatory public art and creative workshop: murals in Bergamo’s suburbs. – The paper examines some urban regeneration and social inclusion projects implemented through collective artworks in Bergamo’s suburbs. Here, for about a decade, murals and graphic design worshops have been adopted as agents of change and active citizen participation. In particular, Tracce Urbane and Pigmenti were conceived as opportunities to modify the urban space by producing murals based on issues such as inequality, gender equality, memory and marginalization. On the one hand, these initiatives involved international artists, in order to give aesthetic qualities to the works and make them colorful re-aesthetization operations (Trione, 2022); on the other hand, street art as a «geographic agent» (Dumont, 2019), has allowed the involvement of vulnerable groups of citizens such as immi-grants and disabled, in order to regenerate and co-construct their everyday landscape. The objective is to provide, with the help of documentation and semi-structured interviews, a critical analysis of the various approaches advocated by local stakeholders. This allows to define the dynamics of the participatory processes implemented and the effectiveness of community empowerment agency; finally, it allows to understand whether these experiences are able to generate conscious communities (Bazzini, Puttilli, 2008), bearers of a common narrative with a peripheral point of view.
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.
"Waters, stones and stories. Mediterranean waterfronts, coastal urban landscapes"
Landascape of Decay. Landscape of the Camorra: Characters, Perceptions and Storytelling. – For a reading of the landscapes of the Camorra, the peculiarities of a territorial nature should be analyzed: economic, urban planning, social, criminal and narrational of these particolar landscape scenarios of degradation. By practicing a critical analysis of the relationships that are established between organized crime and the landscape. In its physical forms and in those of individual and community life. The Camorra landscape is produced by a system of community relations achieved by a range of widespread illegal attitudes and behaviors, converging in actions of laceration of the civil fabric. The perception of this set of negative values is a fundamental component of the generation and perpetuation of this landscape. The individuals and communities of those territories have the perennial cogency of an "underlying" landscape present to their sensorial and cultural perception, based on disvalues distorting every action and behavior, therefore every feeling of them. The territory, its use and its governance, is strongly characterized by uses, practices, meanings and a particular storytelling. Made up of values charged with social and criminal negativity, but also fully perceived by the communities. Communities are forced to undergo this particular territorial connotation, which becomes fundamental in the emergence of this landscape of organized crime.
Between art, culture and landscape. Three Famous cemeteries in Paris. – Along the centuries, a sort of pilgrimage to cemeteries, sometimes to very far ones, took place, as in the famous example of the travel of the poet Caius Va-lerius Catullus to the tomb of his brother.
On the contrary, in the 19th century the fashion to visit outstanding sepulchres, renowned for artistic or cultural purposes, emerged. The example of the cemetery of Genoa-Staglieno is well known, and the Novodèviciy monastery in Moscow was frequented, secretly and if possible, even under the Soviet power.
A recent statistic about the most visited graveyards worldwide reveals that, out of 417 places considered, 192 are Italians, lying in many regions: 55% of the total, while at the 2nd place is Spain with 29 places and 8,3% of the total.
In Paris this type of tourism reaches, above all, that of Père-Lachaise, and then that of Montparnasse and that of Montmartre.
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. 

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.

Considerations on the regional landscape plan of Sardinia: a contribution from internal areas. – The concept of landscape is at the core of many geographical studies and is rich in different meanings that over time have given rise to numerous interpretations. According to the European Landscape Convention adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2000, landscape is a combination of natural and cultural elements in continuous transformation. Transformations that, if not planned attentively, can give rise to processes of deterioration and loss of quality of landscape configurations. In a Europe where there is still a significant dualism between urbanized and rural areas and in an environmental, economic and social era marked by the objectives of sustainability dictated by the 2030 Agenda, it is therefore necessary to adopt and strengthen policies and strategies for a more cohesive development and planning of the territory. The contribution, after a brief review of the literature on European and national policies on the landscape, wants to focus on the ability of regional realities to activate reconstructive interventions and environmental improvements from the adoption of Landscape Plans. In particular, the attention wants to focus on the Sardinian regional context, the first reality in Italy to have adopted a Landscape Plan in 2006. A plan that, to date, has identified only in the coastal areas the areas to be protected and enhanced. However, in the light of the priorities for a sustainable future, the Plan needs to be reviewed and a new plan that can also include the internal areas that are still not sufficiently integrated in the development process of the island.

A slow way of enjoying the landscape: photographic cycle tourism

Dynamics of the urban forest. The case of Nervi and Sant’Ilario (Genoa). – The text was developed within the PRIN project “Sylva – Ripensare la selva” and aims to analyze some landscape and environmental impacts of the rewilding process that took place in the Nervi valley. Nervi and Sant’Ilario today represent one of the “greenest” areas of the municipality of Genoa. In the past, these localities, favored by a particularly mild microclimate, were however widely exploited for agriculture on terraces and pastoralism. The abandonment process that began in the second half of the twentieth century favored the advance of the forest, interrupted only by the repeated fires that hit the valley. These phenomena have also accentuated the susceptibility to instability of the slopes, demonstrating that reforestation processes are not always positive.

 

 

Landscape and Territory

Calabrian ways: religious itinerary for Geography’s path. – In recent years, historical, religious, food and wine and cultural itineraries have become increas-ingly important for the discovery of Italian villages and landscapes: in constant growth is the interest in these tools of knowledge of the history and heritage of Italy.
This work proposes the creation of geo-itineraries based on historical studies concerning the life of two Calabrian monks. The creation of these itineraries, through Gis technology, would lead to the enhancement of still little-known villages, belonging to the internal areas of Calabria, and, at the same time, the rediscovery of the relationship between the tourist and the landscape.

The valorization of the natural and cultural heritage of the territory of Grassano and Grottole in Basilicata for sustainable tourism: geomorphological and GIS analysis for planning sustainable tourism itineraries. – The recognition of Matera as European Capital of Culture 2019 will certainly serve in the near future to channel more effectively part of the tourist flow towards the inner areas. Therefore, a study of a significant portion of the inner area of Matera was undertaken, aimed at collecting elements of the physical landscape that would act as a landscape “frame” for the formulation of hypotheses of routes with “multiple” values. In fact, the study area includes the villages of Grassano and Grottole, which have elements of cultural interest that are useful for valorising the itinerary to be proposed. The knowledge of the geographical elements of the study area, the accurate analysis of the forms of the physical landscape and the geomorphological processes that have generated them, the inventory of the main cultural attractions of the two villages located in the study area, as well as the use of a geographical information system, have made it possible to design the route proposed in this article.

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.

Landscape as vocation: an exploration of the development strategies of some Italian inner areas. – Going beyond a limiting approach of the protection of landscape as constraining, this might be interpreted as an asset for development. Building on this background, this contribution, analyzing the local development strategies produced by some of the project areas included in the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas, investigates to what extent landscape is interpreted as a driver for development, or as vocation, in places where its preservation and protection are a matter of paramount importance.

The Protection of Agricultural Areas and Urban Legislation. Reflections on Building Uses of Rural Soils. – Since the Second World War, the dynamics that have animated the processes of urbanization have generated a radical transformation of the Italian rural landscape causing a change not only in order to the localization modalities residential functions but, more generally, on the whole organizational structure of the territory. As far as the protection of agricultural areas is concerned, the Italian town planning legislation has taken on a role only in recent times, referring to the concept of reducing land consumption.
Starting from a brief overview of the international context, the contribution focuses on the regional scale highlighting the critical issues of the regulatory system of reference, identifying some critical elements relating to the lack of protection of the agricultural territory.
In the conclusions some brief indications for updating the regulatory framework are proposed.

 

Durante la bella escursione in Tunisia tra settembre e ottobre 2017, per i 150 anni di attività della Società Geografica Italiana, ho accennato qualche volta a paralleli paesaggistici fra il Paese maghrebino e la Sicilia. E la Sicilia che con maggiore evidenza presenta paesaggi e retaggi simili alla Tunisia è quella occidentale, soprattutto il Trapanese.
Cultural heritage and urban regeneration. Roma Capitale suburbs Announcement for the launch of a culture driven development. – The management and the rethinking of urban spaces, old and new, central and peripheral, in use or in assignment, is an essential and unavoidable challenge for the competitiveness of any urban systems. This implies a profound change of policy and relations between the actors and the stakeholders that act in it. In this challenge, the culture is a new, and so far underestimated, competitive advantage, able to act as a catalyst to encourage and stimulate creative and innovative processes of territorial development, starting from available local resources. In fact, in the current globalizing scenario, each territory must continually generate local revitalization processes, in order to remain economically competitive and culturally attractive. In this context, urban areas characterized by inadequate spaces and public services, in which there are abandoned structures with particular emphasis on those connoted by landscape features and historical architecture of a certain level, may represent flywheels and natural incubators with a cultural background from which starting to redefine the overall structure of any local systems. The recovery projects proposed for three areas of the northwest area of the city of Rome, falling in the suburbs Announcement recently presented by the municipality, fit in attempts to develop urban resilience proposals according to an approach of culture driven development.

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.

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.

Rural development and territorial well-being. – The paper analyzes the issue of the relationship between rural development and well-being. Taking into account the multifunctional dimension assumed by rural development over the last few years, the topic of the landscape play a central role. In fact, it is a common good which concerns the settled communities and those who use it. The theme of the rural landscape so connects to the themes of participation and democracy.

Useful agricultural area income indicators, processes and development.  a reading of rural landscape and its functions. – Since the last century has grown, local and global scale, the awareness of the multifunctional role of agriculture, which adds to the productive purposes of environmental protection, landscape conservation and management of resources. Transverse to the multiple functions is the pursuit of sustainability, whose social, economic and environmental dimensions, are put at risk by increasingly binding market dynamics and agricultural policies. It seems useful, therefore, to highlight some key points of these synergies with the possible indicators, including through the presentation of case studies, aimed at understanding trends in productivity and gradual reduction of SAU. 

The European Mediterranean region. Management and valorization of landscape transformations. – If on the one hand, many Mediterranean landscapes show the signs of an upset of ecological equilibrium and of a loss of identity-making peculiarities, on the other hand we see a renewed social demand, centered on the cultural, social and environmental values of each landscape, which induces to a reconsideration of politics as well. Hence, we have an increasing of regulative documents, agreements, projects and measures about all the different territorial scales. The main objective of this work is to analyze some of these planning proposals and programmatic documents which have been produced in Europe, to discover sustainable ways of territorial regeneration. The leading thread of this paper consists in investigating the meaning and value assumed by some instruments within a territorial planning directed towards innovation and collaborative planning.
The reflection on the combination of landscape and GIS is certainly very broad. In addition to presenting a recent national and international literature, it may positively rely on some crucial questions that regional policies are facing, ranging from the operation to management, from the involvement at real participation of the community in the culture of landscape and a new way of representing it. If the landscape has become more and more a border line, the GIS is a real system of knowledge, with which it is possible to build interpretative models of real problems, which derivation leads to the idea of collective landscape.