History of the Italian Forest Landscape

Prof. Mauro Agnoletti is the Holder of the UNESCO Chair “Agricultural Heritage Landscapes” of the University of Florence Italy. He wrote about 250 scientific papers and 25 books and was ranked among the most influential researchers by PLOS Biology (2019-2022). He is Vice President of the International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE), co-editor in chief of “Global Environmental, Journal of Interdisciplinary History”, editor of the Springer series on Environmental History. He started his career at the Institute of Forest Ecology at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Florence, researching on the historical relationships between man and forest. Between 2005-2014 he coordinated the research group “Forest History and Traditional Knowledge” of the International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO). He was one of the cofounders and Vice President (2005-2009) of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) and cofounder of the South American and Caribbean Society of Environmental History (SOLCHA). He is an expert of the UNESCO World Heritage List and of the European Landscape Convention (Council of Europe). During his career he transferred several research activities into agricultural and forest policies. In 2007 he coordinated the IUFRO Guidelines for the Implementation of Social and Cultural Values in Sustainable Forest Management promoted by Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forest in Europe (MCPFE). He coordinated the “Landscape Strategy” of the Italian National Plan for Rural Development (2007-2013) and the establishment of the National Register of Historical Rural Landscapes,Agricultural Practices and Traditional Knowledge. In 2014 he coordinated the UNESCO-CBD declaration on the linkages between cultural and biological diversity. From 2015 to 2021 he chaired the Scientific Advisory Group of the FAO program on agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS). In 2024 he chaired the commission for the law protecting forests having cultural and historical values, for the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forests. In 2024 he received the Distinguished Service Award by IUFRO.

• .- Introduction..- the domestication of natural landscape..- sylvae, saltus and lucus..- wood pastures and pastured woods..- woods for shipbuilding..- forest for timber..- Monastic silviculture..- Forest of the plains and afforestation on the mountains..- The chestnut civilization..- woods and charcoal..- the woodlands in the age of the extremes.