Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies
Laboratory for Landscape and Cultural Heritage (CultLab), University of Florence
research project for the
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORICAL RURAL LANDSCAPES
scientific coordinator: Prof. Mauro Agnoletti
Italy offers an incomparable heritage of landscapes forged by man over the centuries, representative of the different civilizations that have left footprints on our territories. They are an exceptional heritage, an expression of cultural identity and the image of Italy in the world. They are subjected to multiple threats but always of great interest. The book presents the results of a research sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, in collaboration with 14 Italian universities and some international research institutions. 123 landscapes have been selected, distributed in all the Italian regions, collected in descriptions that take into account their historical value, the typical products and the critical issues that threaten their integrity, proposing guidelines for their valorization. Their description is accompanied by essays that illustrate the collected data, the trends and characteristics of the Italian rural landscapes, bearing in mind the historical, environmental and economic issues.
The landscape issue is then addressed in all its complexity, without any concession to nostalgic approaches, or to the illusory search for a nature completely removed of human influence, considering instead its role as an added value for the development of rural areas, for the conservation of the environment and for the quality of life of the population. Considering the landscape as the integration of social, economic and environmental issues, in space and time, the book intends to re-assign the role of privileged point of view to interpret the meaning of our country and of its rural territory, opposing to the phenomenon of abandonment, of industrialization and of and urbanization that compromise the integrity and the possibility of development.
The book with the complete research has been published by Laterza (for Italy, in Italian and English) and by Springer for the international market (in English only, click here to visit the Italian Historical Rural Landscapes page on Springer web site).
Download here the preface by the President of the Italian Republic
Download here the preface by the Director-General of UNESCO WHC
Download here the index and the list of the contributors of the publication
Click on the name of the region to see the selected landscapes and a brief description:
