Abstract
The depopulation of vast areas in Italy - mostly foothill, mountain, and insular ones - that since the Second Post World War period has taken on structural characteristics, has undermined the richness of its territorial heritage. This paper explores how Italy has been characterised by a “settlement discomfort”, with the greatest demographic emptying in small towns. The inexorable degradation of the ancient rural villages often originates from the countryside, where the symbiotic relationship with the community has broken over time, leading up to the emptying of towns where the ancient idea of the Italian settlement was built. So, the abandonment of the rural landscapes has become the clear sign of a departure process carried out by the local population, which can be compared to a process of active erosion, of transition from the rural to the uncultivated areas. From this process the “no man’s land” was born, originated from depopulation, disposal of crops and naturalization. Yet, what Gilles Clément defines as “third landscape” where the crumbling walls refer to absence and where the declining land, without reference, leaves to the nature its old supremacy, can be seen as a place of rebirth, of creation of new cultural meanings as well as biodiversity conservation.
Presenters
Stefania MontebelliAssociate Professor of Geography and Human Geography, Department of Human Sciences, University of Guglielmo Marconi, Roma, Italy
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KEYWORDS
settlement discomfort
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