Landscapes and Wine Production Areas: A Geomorphological Heritage

Abstract

Each wine has its own natural and cultural landscape. The present landscape is the result of the interaction of many natural and cultural components. Some Italian areas show an alternance between special natural land features and characteristic cultural arrangements; for example, many vineyards represent a a specific use of specific portions of land and, as such, may be considered to be a very important kind of geomorphologic heritage. These areas require special management aimed at safeguarding both the natural and cultural aspects of the landscape and implementing well-balanced programs for local development that promote the typical production of the wine and its special link with the landscape. A very useful tool for such territorial planning and management is the "Carta della Natura", a project (Italian Law 394/91) that studies Italian territory following a holistic and multi-scale approach (1:250,000: Landscape Units; 1:50,000 Habitats; 1:10,000: Ecotopes) in order to obtain complete knowledge of the territory and evaluate the state of the environment. By integrating many different types of information, it is possible to analyze the link between vineyard cultivation and landscape within the framework of geomorphological settings. Moreover, it is possible to recognize and identify a number of distinctive landscapes for submission as a protected geoheritage.Shape is synthesis. Following an Aristotelian approach in studying nature, we can read the land features as the expression of the endogenous and exogenous processes that mould the surfaces of the Earth. Human activities additionally make a further, often dramatic, impression on the territory, sometimes guided and inspired by the land forms, very often against them. Therefore, landscape is everywhere, but needs to be understood and recognized as a heritage; at the same time, it needs to be protected in order to become a resource. The quality of landscape impinges on individual and social well-being; moreover, as finally embedded in the European Landscape Convention (Council of Europe 2000) "Landscape is everywhere and is an essential element of quality of life and cooperates in the development of local cultures." The key role of the landscape is in its perceptive and symbolic power: it's what mankind interacts with, its first contact with the environment, and the source of resources, risk, and emotions.The concept of heritage (patrimonio in the Italian language, from the latin pater = father and munus = duty, but also property) implies a link, based on right and duty, between the individual and a number of values: mankind owns a heritage, at the same time has the duty to protect and manage it. The first step is knowledge and awareness:

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“…According to the definition of geotope coined by German scientists, a geotope (geotop) is a base element of landscape (landschaftelement), in the same way as a biotope, detectable as the smallest unit of the Earth's surface, geographically definable, and homogeneous in its structure and characteristics. In this sense, one can draw a parallel between geodiversity and biodiversity, because, although on different scales, the endogenous and exogenous processes, and the rocks (as elements of the formation of landscape), condition the evolution of environments and of biological diversity, and are the basis of spatial-temporal development of a region [6]. The relationship between the components of landscape and of the environment is very close [7][8][9]; the relationship between cause and effect of phenomena that concern the physical part of a territory and the biological part is mutually reciprocal, from the viewpoint of study of environmental diversity understood as integration of geodiversity and biodiversity.…”

“…The proper way, both scientifically and culturally, to approach the problem of sustainable management of territory and landscape, demands an informed and methodological preparation of all the environmental and social components and assimilates the fundamental element of awareness, and thus understanding, public education and participation. This approach is by now indispensable in order to address the decisional directions and the management of such an equilibrium between use and respect of territory, with the objective of a development that is sustainable for the natural and social ecosystem [6,[14][15][16].…”

“…Maps are the most complete tools that allow a thorough understanding and a clear image of the studied areas [6,18]. The most important GIS-based representations of the whole Italian territory are the"Carta della Natura" [19], "Map of Nature" [20] and the "Geologic Map of Italy" [21], coordinated by the ISPRA, tools to analyze landscape following a holistic approach (Figure 1).…”

“…The landscape physiographic units (scale 1:250,000) are homogeneous areas, identified by a deductive reasoning, accordingly mapped and described [19]. Furthermore, they are classified following a specifically designed legend of landscape types that synthesizes, by an inductive reasoning, the associations of typical land features recognizable at a regional scale [6]. All of the units, at the different scales, are identified thanks to a synthesis of the composition and the pattern of those elements that constitute their physiognomy [29,30].…”

“…It rarely is considered a term that encompasses a perceptible expression of the result of the endogenous and exogenous forces that mold the Earth's surface [6].…”