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

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

 

Covid-19 and Tourism. Sardinia: opportunities and tourist development perspectives. – The global emergency due to the spread of Covid-19 has resulted in restrictive measures for the movement of goods and people and in the stop of large production sectors, including tourism. The crisis that has affected the tourism industry worldwide also has negative consequences in regions such as Sardinia, already suffering from structural problems, among which there are seasonality and the prevailing incidence of the seaside model. In the Italian regional scenario, the island is among the least affected by the spread of the virus and, in view of a remodeling of its offer system starting from the implementation of organizational and governance structures and the strengthening of other identity tourism products capable of integrating different territories and sectors, could exploit this element to reposition itself as a smart and safe destination.

New Synergies Between Territories and Enterprises: The Benefit Corporation as Potential Actors of Sustainable Development. – Recently, in Italy, have been introduced the Benefit Corporation (BC), ie a new legal form once a formal recognition of those companies intending to pursue a different business model: the “for benefit”. These companies, in fact, are placed in a limbo between non-profit and for-profit, associating profit targets with requirements of transparency and accountability to a wider number of stakeholders such as employees and citizens, reaching the interest for the natural environment and the territory. The challenge launched by the BC is that to get a rapprochement between doing business and society that goes beyond a simple and residual integration of social concerns, introducing into the reasons of being of the company's one or more purposes turned to the common benefit. In this sense, the classical concept of corporate social responsibility undergoes a transformation and becomes more strong.
This study has two objectives, firstly to clarify the nature, the struc-ture and the geographic distribution of those enterprises, on the other hand it aims to check as this modern way of understanding the business may affect on the territory and the extent to which the context where the companies are placed can to contribute on their functioning. To achieve the ultimate goal will be analyzed recent experiences in the Italian system, taking into account some of the existing realities.

Il proposito di regolare il corso del fiume Adige nella contea austriaca del Tirolo risale alla seconda metà del XVIII secolo. Diversi progetti si susseguirono nel corso del tempo e i lavori furono finalmente conclusi entro la fine del XIX secolo.
Nello stesso periodo molti altri fiumi europei - come il Reno in Germania - furono interessati da progetti similari. Le aree paludose non erano soggette a misure catastali, eludendo la tassazione. La loro presenza, poi, ostacolava i movimenti delle truppe e rendeva difficile la costruzione di fortificazioni stabili, perciò pregiudicando l’ordine disciplinato che era necessario per stabilire un moderno stato territoriale. Sin dal Rinascimento lo sviluppo delle tecniche cartografiche assieme al progresso delle inchieste statistiche permise l’attuazione di un nuovo ordine territoriale. Mappe e dati statistici non erano soltanto il mezzo per la realizzazione dei progetti ma divennero lo strumento archetipico di una radicale trasformazione del territorio. Strade e canali rettilinei, terre bonificate divennero la manifestazione materiale delle linee disegnate sulle carte. Non fu un caso che la rettificazione dell’Adige si legò alla costruzione della Brennerbahn, il collegamento ferroviario fra Verona e Innsbruck.
Lo stesso processo riguardò i confini proprietari, amministrativi e politici: lo stato territoriale moderno, infatti, concepì allo stesso modo le grandi opere di bonifica, l’appropriazione del suolo e la determinazione dei confini. Questo articolo esamina i diversi progetti di sistemazione dell’Adige con la relativa cartografia che, nel corso di un secolo, trasfor-marono radicalmente la geografia della Val d’Adige.

Southern Italy and Euro-Mediterranean development. Cultural Routes for a new territorial vision – Cultural routes have assumed, for our country and especially for the South, a particularly important value and are becoming nowadays ever more instrument and opportunities for tourism innovation. The perception is that we are at the gates of a new historical phase in which a substantial reflection on new forms of enjoyment of territories contrasts with the aggression of the great cultural heritage.
To the south and along the trajectories of cultural and historical itineraries, the common Euro-Mediterranean root of crossed territories and the ties between communities deserve a different consideration, new forms of integrated tourism and a different narrative ability.
For these reasons an organic reflection on the prospects of territorial development, starting from the routes that run through and give life to the Southern Italy and Mediterranean tourist realities, erroneously defined minor, becomes particularly important nowadays, and probably one of the concrete sources of feasible sustainable development.

The problem of the failure and/or unsatisfactory development of Southern Italy recurs insistently and from various point of view in the political and scientific debate. The contributions range from the analysis of the determinants of political ineffectiveness in promoting a better development path, to the proposition of formulas capable of correcting this situation and thereby establish paths of interregional convergence or catching-up. In this framework, is useful to studying Sardinia as a "laboratory" to examine the main institutional trends and variables at the base of the north-south dualism that characterizes the Italian economy, as well as to deepen and explore new approaches and solutions to the problem of interregional imbalances. The paper, moving from this assumption analyze the causes underlying the disappointing socio-economic development promoted in Sardinia. Moreover suggests possible reforming paths of political institutions and new economic measures of intervention with particular reference to the need for a re-enactment of the federalist principles and the idea of the guaranteed minimum income.

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. 

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

The “Via degli Abruzzi”. a key route to local development. – The renewed attention paid by Institutions, public authorities and scholars to main historical routes as well as their more serious consideration of rural areas’ development suggest the author to focus his interest on the ancient route of the “Via degli Abruzzi”, which played a crucial role for several centuries for religious, cultural and most importantly commercial purposes, connecting Central and Northern Italy to Southern Italy. This paper aims not only to discover again such a history, but also to let re-emerge nowadays a network of potential relationships and a renewed interest in the areas covered by this communication route, by stimulating new cultural tourism flows which could travel through this route again, and even envisaging a possible institutionalisation of its itinerary, for a more varied and efficient use of its environmental and cultural resources.

La riscoperta del patrimonio culturale, sia materiale che immateriale, di un contesto di montagna può essere la chiave per una crescita economica e sociale, soprattutto delle aree depresse, che stanno vivendo un'emorragia demografica a causa della marginalizzazione degli ultimi decenni, con conseguente de-territorializzazione.In questo articolo si cerca di dare qualche esempio di valorizzazione e di riscoperta di luoghi e pratiche del passato, ritenute molto interessanti anche ai fini di un rilancio turistico.