DOCUMENTI GEOGRAFICI - N. 3 (2023)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Poli-thema

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Urban borders and margins as spaces of reappropriation of the city. The case of the Fontaínhas gardens in Porto. – Increasingly, urban governments, citizens and informal groups are pursuing alternative practices to feed cities. The unease provoked by postmodern urban life, which has adulterated the human/nature relationship and exacerbated the city/land divide, generate the construction of practices to contrast these processes. The borders and margins of the «Capitalocenic» city often become places of resistance where self-production initiatives can be practised through the creation of urban gardens. Of particular interest are informal experiments that emphasise the reappropriation of physical spaces for the marginalised and the community at large. This article analyses, from a critical perspective and highlighting strengths and weaknesses, the spontaneous construction experience of the La Bananeira urban garden, carried out by an informal group on the Fontaínhas escarpment in Porto, Portugal.

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App GIS-based per le Smart Tourist Destinations nel Governatorato di Muscat, Oman. – Le ICT e il turismo giocano ruoli fondamentali nello sviluppo delle economie globali emergenti, offrendo opportunità e strumenti strategici per promuovere la crescita delle mete. Le Destinazioni Turistiche Smart (STD) utilizzano strumenti e tecnologie disponibili per co-creare valore ed esperienze immersive per i turisti, generando nel contempo profitti e benefici per le organizzazioni e la destinazione nel suo complesso.
Il presente contributo espone nella sua totalità le fasi dello sviluppo di un’applicazione per smartphone progettata per l’esplorazione del territorio dell’Oman, comprendente le sue diverse risorse naturali e culturali, infrastrutture turistiche e strutture ricettive. La metodologia impiegata comprende la raccolta dati da fonti primarie, la georeferenziazione di numerosi punti di riferimento naturali, culturali e ricreativi, e l’utilizzo degli strumenti Arc-GIS e Google Earth per l’elaborazione dei dati. L’applicazione sviluppata si dimostra essere uno strumento intelligente e reattivo, in grado di soddisfare le esigenze del turismo esperienziale. Offre agli utenti la possibilità di personalizzare iti-nerari in linea con i loro gusti, preferenze ed esigenze. Integrando tecnologie all’avanguardia e dati geografici, l’applicazione per l’esplorazione dell’Oman porta le esperienze turistiche a nuove vette, mettendo in evidenza le diverse attrazioni del paese. Questo articolo specifico presenta le considerazioni finali alla luce di una serie di cambiamenti ambientali e territoriali che sono avvenuti durante la fase di validazione.

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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.

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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.
Agorà (Responsabili Giovanni Mauro, Maria Ronza)

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È interessante chiedersi se è l’economia, in particolare quella del lavoro, a condizionare la partecipazione femminile al mercato del lavoro, oppure se sono le donne, con le loro scelte e decisioni, a condizionare l’economia.

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«Come diceva Paolo Borsellino, per combattere la mafia si deve negare il consenso, ma per poter negare il consenso dobbiamo capire, e non è semplice, verso chi e verso cosa vada negato». Queste sono le parole che l’avvocato Paola Maria Di Luccia, segretaria dell’Associazione Vittime del Dovere, ha pronunciato in apertura del convegno multidisciplinare “Mafie, Terzo Settore e interventi in ambito sociale: riflessioni multidisciplinari e istituzionali” che si è tenuto nelle mattinate del 13 e 14 no-vembre 2023 sulla piattaforma Cisco Webex dell’Università degli Studi dell’Aquila e ha visto la partecipazione di circa quattrocento studenti uni-versitari di vari corsi di laurea.

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Premessa. – Gli ultimi decenni si stanno caratterizzando moltissimo sul concetto di sostenibilità ambientale, connesso al peggioramento quasi catastrofico delle condizioni ambientali, ma anche al nostro stile e abitudini di vita. Infatti, sentiamo parlare sempre più spesso di “sviluppo sostenibile” legando l’aspetto ambientale a quello produttivo, nell’interesse sia delle generazioni attuali ma soprattutto di quelle future.

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«Nel centenario della nascita dell’autore ligure, a Roma [Scuderie del Quirinale] una grande mostra ne racconta l’immaginario, filtrato dal costante e insistito rapporto con le immagini, come fonte primaria della scrittura e dell’interpretazione del mondo (sottolineatura mia)». È quanto si legge in una presentazione della mostra Favoloso Calvino, finalità corroborata dalle parole che lo stesso Calvino scriveva nel 1960: «l’unica cosa che vorrei poter inse-gnare è un modo di guardare, cioè di essere in mezzo al mondo».

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Vorrei partire da una semplice considerazione: la questione del rapporto tra cultura e scienza, per far avanzare la conoscenza e favorire il progresso dell’umanità, è da far risalire, come noto, alla disputa che, negli anni ‘60 dello scorso secolo, infiammò tutto il mondo dopo l’uscita del libro di Charles Percy Snow: Le due culture (Oxford University Press, 1959), nel quale, per la prima volta si affrontava il tema del rapporto fra la cultura umanistica e quella scientifica, contestando apertamente il primato della prima sulla seconda che, fino ad allora, veniva dato per scontato.
Kritiké (Responsabile Daniele Paragano)

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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.

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Quando si ha il piacere di essere titolari di un insegnamento universitario, la Ricerca e i risultati che vi si conseguono è certamente motivo di incremento di quel piacere. Ma molto di più lo è il contato con gli studenti a lezione, a “ricevimento” e in tutte le occasioni che consentono di incontrarli.

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L’A., illustre geografo d’Oltralpe e presidente della storica Societé de Geographie de Paris, si è cimentato, con notevole abilità letteraria, nella stesura di un romanzo geografico-storico, nel quale riesce a trasfondere magistralmente il portato più profondo della classica scuola geografica francese, dove divenire storico, strutture antropologico-culturali, processi di trasformazione degli equilibri ambientali, organizzazione sociale ed economica, costituiscono un insieme imprescindibile per la comprensione delle formazioni geografiche alle diverse scale ma da cogliersi al meglio nello specifico di quella locale.

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Le tematiche riguardanti lo sviluppo rurale e la contrapposizione fra città e campagna sembrano trovare nuova vitalità negli studi geografici da alcuni anni. In particolare, nell’ottica di un mondo ormai post-industriale, il turismo sembra un potenziale sentiero di sviluppo praticabile per le aree non urbanizzate, potendo osservare una vasta galleria di paesaggi, da quelli che esprimono ancora vive testimonianze di sistemi agricoli di antica origine e di alta qualità produttiva, fino, alla scala opposta, a territori ormai devitalizzati demograficamente ed economicamente.

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Tutte le metropoli del mondo presentano forti contraddizioni e fenomeni di segregazione spaziale. Alcune problematiche legate alla complessa crescita urbana e demografica di Roma, non affrontate in modo efficace, hanno acuito polarizzazioni già molto marcate fra centro e periferia. Le disparità fra le varie aree riguardo a molti indicatori culturali, sociali, economici o, comunque, legati alla qualità della vita sono particolarmente rilevanti.

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L’ultimo lavoro di Costantino Felice, ospitato nella collana “Saggine” della casa editrice Donzelli, si configura come uno dei risultati più emblematici dell’attività di indagine condotta dall’autore con scrupoloso impegno scientifico nel corso di vari decenni sul Mezzogiorno e sull’Abruzzo più in specifico.

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Il volume preso in esame in questa sede offre una prospettiva critica sul modo in cui la città di Roma si rapporta al cibo e al suo sistema agro-alimentare.

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La proposta di questo libro che, a scanso di equivoci, non si presenta come un trattato accademico ma come una sorta di rassegna ragionata in chiave geopolitica di prodotti fantascientifici, è di mettere in rilievo i legami che esistono tra questo mondo narrativo – nelle sue differenti diramazioni – e le grandi questioni geografiche, da quella ambientale a quella bellica, fino alla tematica dell’uso politico della comunicazione e alla pandemia.

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Il volume, pubblicato in formato open access in una collana ideata per la didattica (Strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca), offre una innovativa riflessione sull’informazione geografica e sugli effetti socio-spaziali mediati dalle piattaforme digitali adottando un approccio critico incentrato sull’analisi dei dati.

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Il mare, per molti di noi, è simile a questa cartolina: un frammento di spazio e tempo altro, fotografia di esperienze transitorie e di ricordi fugaci. Una rappresentazione certamente mnemonica ed evocativa che ha tuttavia il potere di cristallizzare il mondo oceanico a presenza contestuale ed effimera.

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Il volume, composto da quattro capitoli che si sviluppano in poco più di 150 pagine, è pubblicato nella collana “scienze geografiche” e propone un contributo allo studio delle relazioni tra turismo, sostenibilità e paesaggio, ricorrendo al concetto di parabola per mezzo di un’insolita ma efficace chiave di lettura legata alla matematica.
Politiké (Responsabile Angelo Turco)

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Nella drammatica situazione del Vicino Oriente, è quanto mai urgente pensare che da quelle parti non solo si distrugge, non solo si creano le condizioni per un futuro inconciliabile tra popoli, culture, sentimenti, ma si può progettare e costruire. Come nel Piano di Tel Aviv, ci rammenta Annarita Lamberti, geografa italiana studiosa da tempo di quelle lande che la “territorial trap” ha trasformato in un inferno.

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Torno a Tel Aviv dopo otto anni. La prima novità, rispetto a quando mi accostai per la prima volta alla pianificazione urbanistica della città, ormai vent’anni fa, ma anche rispetto al 2015, è che raggiungo il centro in treno: la ferrovia che collega l’aeroporto Ben Gurion a Tel Aviv e a Gerusalemme è entrata in funzione solo nel 2018.

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La bulimica saggistica che si è esercitata su Kafka è riuscita nel difficile compito di mancarne l’ossessione per lo spazio. Che sia misero e angusto come quello dei solai tribunalizi del Processo, che sia quello sconfinato della Cina imperiale, dappertutto i personaggi scontano la loro inadeguatezza rispetto al mondo irrigidito e degradato che Kafka descrive.

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Dovessimo stabilire chi danneggi maggiormente l’Emilia-Romagna prostrata dal dissesto idrogeologico entreremmo in un dilemma. Il governo nazionale non mostra particolare sollecitudine nei confronti di una regione che la storia ha sinora assegnato all’opposizione e, sbagliando strategia, si aliena ancor più i consensi lasciando imputridire campi sterili per le melme alluvionali, smottare strade indispensabili agli abitanti della montagna, non affrettandosi a ricostruire argini di contenimento delle piene che alle prime piogge si riverseranno in aree già martoriate.

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Nello stesso fiume non è possibile scendere due volte, perché la seconda volta esso è già mutato, non è più lo stesso, quindi, a rigore, non è possibile scendere nello stesso fiume nemmeno una volta. In perfetta linea con i pensieri di Eraclito, gli uomini e le donne che abitano in Italia vogliono costruire le loro case sempre più vicino alle sponde dei fiumi, tanto l’acqua uscita una volta dagli argini non lo farà più.

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Nel 2017, insieme a Silvia Aru e Matteo Puttilli ho pubblicato un articolo nella rivista City2. Poche settimane dopo l’uscita del lavoro, la mia casella di posta ha iniziato a ricevere un flusso di mail da parte di altre riviste internazionali e in lingua inglese che mi invitavano a pubblicare anche presso di loro. Sulle prime, vanità di ricercatore, ho pensato che quelle richieste fossero determinate dall’interesse verso la nostra ricerca. Non era così.

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Perché pubblicare, a oltre venti anni di distanza, alcuni tra i testi più significativi di Augustin Berque? Quale significato, “politico” e disciplinare può assumere oggi in Italia l’interpretazione del pensiero del geografo francese? In cosa consiste la modernità della sua riflessione?

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L’AIGF è stata formalmente creata in occasione del Congresso Fondatore tenutosi presso l’Institut National d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme (INAU) di Rabat (Marocco) dal 13 al 15 giugno 2023, durante il quale sono stati votati i testi che definiscono ruolo e funzionamento dei vari organi indispensabili alla vita dell’associazione.
Mono-thema: Lo spazio relazionale della transumanza: usi, valori, visioni

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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.

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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.

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The rediscovery of transhumance routes in the Matese area of Campania. Paths and economic chains. – The Matese mountain complex is part of the southern Apennines chain and currently divides the Campania and Molise regions. Inhabited since the pre-Roman age by Samnite people, throughout history it has represented a place of transit between the Campania plain and the Adriatic side. With the establishment and regulation of the Regi Trat-turi in the Aragonese era, part of the ancient walkways that crossed the Matese were used by the shepherds of the Campania side to connect with the main Pescasseroli-Candela sheep track that surrounds the mountain complex in the Molise part. Until the 18th century, sheep breeding and the production of woolen cloths represented among the most important items for the economy of the territories located on the Campania side of Matese. Centers such as Piedimonte d'Alife (today Piedimonte Matese), Cerreto Sannita, Cusano and Morcone based their economic well-being on these activities for a long time, so much so that they are considered among the most active centers of the ancient Kingdom. The purpose of this study is the rediscovery of this network of paths and of the ancient connected economic chains as a fundamental prerequisite for a development proposal for the area, which is currently experiencing a period of profound economic stagnation with consequent depopulation. The methodology used refers to the analysis of historical documentary and cartographic sources and the GIS will be used for the identification and tracing of these paths.

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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.).

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Sardinia between transhumance and the Blue Zone. Socio-spatial dynamics, rural lifestyle and diet of a geographical area of exceptional longevity: Ogliastra. – The rural dimension of Sardinia is strongly represented by the historical and social role assumed by agricultural activities on the island, which have always been characterised by transhumance phenomena (in Sardinia Tramuda) that, at different scales from the rest of Italy, have characterised some Sardinian rural territories (Ortu, 1988; Lai, 1998). Ogliastra has long been one of the lands of transhumance in Sardinia (Schiavone, Schiavone, 2014), and is marked by a high number of long-lived individuals (Blue Zone), for which, the rural environment, lifestyle and local interrelation-ships and genetics have influenced the health status in this area (Pes and Poulain, 2014). The work aims to investigate the socio-spatial dimension of food production linked to the rural (transhumant) culture of Ogliastra, trying to understand the configurations of territoriality (Turco, 2010) and how this socio-spatial, rural and food model may have influenced the particular longevity of the area. The Blue Zone diet, in fact, typical of transhumant territories, can become a catalyst for the sustainable devel-opment not only of Sardinia but also of many small Mediterranean rural areas and, furthermore, can facilitate the re-appropriation by the younger generations of their ancient identity heritage.

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Transhumance in Cilento region: between resistance and new social practices. – The article discusses the significance of transhumance beyond its traditional territories, exploring new social and residential models due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Transhumance practices offer opportunities to rethink territorial centrality, but tourism could lead to both potential and risks of commodification. The Cilento region serves as a case study, where trans-humance has historical roots, but tourism has reshaped the economy. Initiatives to revitalize transhumance and its symbolism are emerging. The study reflects on their role in promoting social values, yet cautions about their complex relationship with tourism in the long run.

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Transhumance, food quality, place quality. practices and narratives around mountain cheeses. – This paper discusses the role attributed to vertical transhumance (alpine pasture) in the process of typification of mountain food products, with particular reference to an alpine cheese in Piedmont and the territory associated to its production; namely, Castelmagno DOP and the Grana Valley. It shows how the practice of transhumance and alpine pasture farming play a key role in transforming a local cheese into a recognised cheese originating in a specific territory by contributing to the construction of its quality.

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The tradition of poet shepherds in the complex relational space of the Sibillini Mountains – For centuries, the practice of transhumance thrived in the Sibillini Mountains, particularly towards Maremma and Agro Romano. This pastoral society witnessed the establishment of both major and minor farms, leading to the gradual growth of a pastoral industry that persisted largely unchanged until the mid-20th Century. Enduring a challenging environment with extreme living conditions, the shepherds embarked on strenuous journeys from the mountains to the plains, spending months away from home, yet managing to preserve a deep cultural understanding. During their leisure time, these shepherds orally transmitted and safeguarded legends that have endured in the Sibillini region to this day. They also committed to memory poems of chivalrous exploits (such as Tasso’s Gerusalemme). Some, like Giuseppe Rosi, who fought alongside Garibaldi during the Risorgimento, even composed their own verses, adding to the richness of a distinct oral tradition that has been upheld for generations. Unfortunately, with the last of these poet shepherds disappearing, this unique oral tradition now faces the risk of extinction. This paper aims to explore the origin and evolution of these exceptional poet shepherds, with the intention of encouraging efforts to study, protect, and preserve what little remains of these precious pastoral and oral traditions.

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Territorialization practices in the L’Aquila Apennines: transhumance, emigration and tourism. – The paper discusses the interconnected human and animal flows that have characterized the mobility in the high lands of L’Aquila province since the unification of Italy, when flocks and shepherds crossed their paths with emigrants, while tourists began to populate the mountains with different purposes, up to the present day, when the Abruzzo mountains are experiencing new opportunities to enroot the population and promote the territorial revitalization. Subsequently, the socio-spatial dynamics of some food productions of the southern slope of the Gran Sasso d’Italia connected to the practice of Transhumance are presented: secondary products of the pastoral economy of the past, mainly connected to the wool trade, which currently play a central role in creating employment opportunities of small local communities, with important repercussions also in the redefinition of tourist trajectories.

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Textures and scalar relationships of transhumance between tradition and innovation. The Sportumanza project for a slow and responsible tourism. – Recalling the importance of transhumance as a territorial process and as the demonstration of the three attributes of space - scale, metric, substance – we can reveal the power of this ancient practice: it proceeds by multiscale relationships, foresees multiple metrics and it shows all its richness in substance, through the three characterizations of inhabiting (relational, functional and temporal). Through the case study of the vertical transhumance of the Orobic pre-Alpine context, we investigate how it generates relationships between human and non-human agents, functional practices for pastoral activity and for other ecosystemic services, care and preservation of biodiversity sites, enabling the shepherd and his animals to become sensors of environmental changes on a global scale. We then move on to the analysis of transhumance as an opportunity for innovation in the forms of living and doing tourism, especially in areas defined as peripheral and internal, by presenting the “Sportumanza” project.

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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.

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Southern transhumance routes between old and new economic perspectives: the case of Basilicata. – Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock guided, from dawn to dusk, by groups of shepherds together with their dogs and horses between the mountains and the plains along constant and marked routes between five geographical regions of the South. Since 2019 it has been included in the UNESCO heritage with its ways and can still be a driving force for economic and social growth for the regions of Southern Italy. In this work, taking into consideration the changes taking place on a global scale, we want to promote greater awareness of the genesis and evolution of the ways of transhumance and its economic vocations, of the production chains respecting cultural values and territorial identities, lifeblood for many fragile territories. A particular case is represented by the Basilicata region, so strongly interested in improving the quality of life of its smaller towns crossed by grass roads.
The contribution mainly examines the pilot project Parcovie 2030, as part of the Recovery Plan 2021.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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New mountain people, new activities, and new forms of transhumance: adapting traditional patterns in val Aupa, Friuli Venezia Giulia. – The study is part of the broader topic of the transition to modernity, and the passage to post-modernity, in the rural and mountain peripheries of the Eastern Alps. A passage, which took place starting from the mid-1900s, which often means a catastrophic impact on society and territories, in particular of certain areas, such as some valleys of Friuli, which involves the well-known phenomena of crisis and depopulation, to the point of creating situations of real human desertification, and the abandonment of entire valleys. It is therefore a question of understanding how the premises can be created for such re-conversions, and for the acceptation of changes, to take place without trauma, to create situations in which modernist and post-modernist innovation (today connected with globalization, and with the various digital transitions, ecological and of various kinds) can be usefully combined to avoid dramatic ruptures. It is the question, first, of rural economies, of agriculture and livestock, possibly connected to transhumance, in its various expressions, to be repurposed and adapted in appropriate way.

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From transhumant to sedentary and “return”: the case of small pastoral activities in the Gulf of Augusta. – The processes of territorialisation and de-territorialisation that have taken place in the Gulf of Augusta are the result of an ‘oil culture’ that has long favoured economic growth and employment to the detriment of the territorial context and the original productive uses. It thus happens that, within the district formed by the four municipalities of Au-gusta, Melilli, Priolo Gargallo and Syracuse, Sicily, very different forms of economic activity coexist, some inherited from a late industrialism based on the petrochemical industry, others on more ancient agricultural and breeding practices. In this case study, the focus of the research was the observation of a small group of transhumant sheep and goat breeders, originating from an area north of Etna but who, for economic reasons, have become settled in areas that are close to industrial activities and, for the same reasons, transhumate in the small territory of the province of Syracuse. However, dairy products are sold to Etna’s dairies, potentially creating an information gap with the place of production. Between the chemical industry and agriculture, between different livestock farms, the area lives with forced coexistence that can hardly ever be considered an added value for one another, and the reason for this is easy to guess. The aim of the research is to understand these cohabitations and what drove the farmers to leave their territory of origin and settle in the Priolo Gargallo area with its controversial dynamics. To do this, documentation techniques typical of geography and visual research and interview techniques used in anthropological research were used.

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Criminogenic Dynamics of Actors and Stakes in Transhumance Territories. – Using the Abruzzo mountains as a point of departure, the contribution illustrates the dynamics of actors currently shaping transhumance territories, but which have nothing to do with the age-old practice of animal herding; instead, they threaten it. These are criminogenic dynamics supported by cross-regional networks of actors who aim to gain control of mountain pastures by dividing up the national territory. By utilizing the mechanisms of "titles" provided by the Common Agricultural Policy for the receipt of direct aid for farmers, European contributions amounting to millions of euros are obtained. The hypothesis that the research results, related to one of these networks in particular, seem to support is that there is substantial continuity with organized crime interested in territorial control.

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Transhumance for legality: a case study in the Sicily region. – The article discusses the recognition of transhumance as intangible cultural heritage of humanity and its importance in safeguarding and promoting territories. The study focuses on transhumance within the project “Parks, Shepherds, Transhumance, and the Great Ways of Civilization”, highlighting the role of transhumance in driving economic development, even in situations where it has been in decline. The specific study area is Troina, a town located on the Sicilian Island, where transhumance is characterized by the exclusive use of horse breeds, particularly Ragusan donkeys. This practice carries symbolic significance for the municipality and the community involved as it symbolizes the reclaiming of land once controlled by organized crime. The collective practice of transhumance in this particular context reinforces the idea of legality. The study employs a comprehensive approach, including a review of relevant literature, a qualitative methodology involving field interviews with key participants in transhumance, and the analysis of historical and geographical data. Through these methods, the study aims to shed light on the current understanding of this equestrian practice and its impact on the local community.

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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.