Variazioni del paesaggio agricolo italiano in relazione all'evoluzione delle tecniche agronomiche

Abstract

Variation of the Italian agricultural landscape in relation to the evolution of the agronomic techniques.- The agricultural activity and the practices that are connected with it more or less directly, have been transformed during the history of mankind according to the evolution of the various societies and policies. These variations are with no doubt the most “responsible” of the evolution of the agricultural landscape. The agronomic techniques that were used in the ancient agricultural societies were initially rough, the land being used temporarly by nomadic people and then abandoned when fertility or weather were not favourable to crop growth and replaced with new fertile areas. Therefore the impact of ancient agriculture on the landscape was very limited, also because of the low population density.

The permanent agriculture developed with the beginning of the great civilisations when the rural environment begun to assume a more stable aspect. During the Reinassance the diversification of agricultural activities had beneficial effects on the landscape, that used to be very variable, both as a result of the mixed cropping systems and the multiple agronomic techniqies used.

The most important upsetting of the agricultural landscape occurred in the last century, when agriculture become an economic activity, with the same dignity of the other productive sectors and related advantages and disadvantages. In this paper the impact of the main aspects of agricultural activity on the agricultural landscape are analysed, with particular attention to the choices that farmers had to make about crops, livestock and management of the rural landscape.

Keywords:

• agricultural landscape
• agronomique tecnics
• agricultural history