Landscape and Urban Planning 100 (2011) 98108

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Landscape and Urban Planning

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Mapping traditional cultural landscapes in the Mediterranean area using a combined multidisciplinary approach: Method and application to Mount Etna (Sicily; Italy)
Sebastiano Cullotta , Giuseppe Barbera
Dipartimento di Colture Arboree, Viale delle Scienze, Edicio 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Traditional cultural landscapes (TCLs) are prominent in Mediterranean countries. The abundance of this landscape type, however, is not reected by broad-scale inventories and mapping tools. The aim of this paper is to highlight the need for a multidisciplinary approach to landscape analysis, with special reference to the Mediterranean area. We propose an integrated method that combines deductive and inductive processes to dene and map TCLs in a study area (Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy). We also develop a procedure to characterize the primary components of these landscapes as a reference to be used in cultural-landscape descriptions. For mapping purposes, three different scales of analysis were examined to select appropriate data-sets of interest. At the broadest scale (1:250,000100,000), land systems of territorial contexts (LSTCs) were detected by overlaying climatic, lithomorphological and topological maps. At the second level (1:100,00025,000), landscapes of main agroforestry systems (LMASs) were identied by adding primary land-cover and land-use maps. At the third and most detailed scale (1:25,00010,000), TCLs were specied using detailed land-use maps of traditional agro-forestry systems. This procedure provides a tool to dene and characterize the primary components of TCLs and to designate specic characters of importance (e.g., landscape composition and conguration, traditional techniques of land-management, and heritage features). By following this procedure, we detect a large number of TCLs in the Mt. Etna region, an important and representative area of Mediterranean cultural landscapes. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 9 July 2010 Received in revised form 11 November 2010 Accepted 22 November 2010 Available online 19 December 2010 Keywords: Landscape inventory Multi-disciplinary approach Hierarchical classication Traditional land-use Rural heritage features Agroforestry systems

1. Introduction Contemporary European policies that aim to enhance knowledge about and conservation of cultural landscapes (e.g., the European Landscape Convention; Council of Europe, 2000) are particularly relevant for regions such as Sicily. Because of its central position in the Mediterranean Basin, its ecological diversity and biodiversity, and its longstanding history of exchanges among major agricultural civilizations, Sicily encompasses several agricultural landscapes and agroforestry systems. As a consequence of different natural and historical settings intersecting for millennia, Sicily can be viewed as representative of the Mediterranean area as a whole, particularly its agricultural landscapes. Owing to its location and the variability of its physiography, lithology, and pedology (Fierotti, 1988) and therefore of its mesoand micro-climates, Sicily has been a major reservoir of biodiversity since the Tertiary period (Groves and Di Castri, 1991). For example, Sicily is home to approximately 2700 vascular-plant

Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 091 23861229; fax: +39 091 23861211. E-mail addresses: cullotta@unipa.it (S. Cullotta), barbera@unipa.it (G. Barbera). 0169-2046/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.11.012

species (of which 11% are endemic), making it one of the primary biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean Basin (Mdail and Quzel, 1997). Substantial diversity is also present in cultivated species and intraspecic varieties and landraces. Moreover, Sicily has hosted continuous and intensive agricultural activity since the Neolithic Age (Sereni, 1961), leading to remarkable growth of its autochthonous species in terms of both quantity (with varieties brought from other regions as a result of historical events) and intraspecic biodiversity (through anthropic selection). These characteristics are common in many areas around the Mediterranean Basin (e.g., Blondel, 2006; Geri et al., 2010a; Grove and Rackham, 2002; Mazzoleni et al., 2004a; Sirami et al., 2010). Sicilys high environmental variability is particularly visible in locations where plains, hills, high mountains, the sea, and sizeable human settlements all occur within a small area. Traditional landscapes (sensu Antrop, 1997) are often encountered in such areas, showing historical identities that were largely stable until the mid-twentieth century (Antrop, 2005; Bignal et al., 1995; Vos and Meekes, 1999) but that have in recent years been subject to either agricultural intensication or abandonment (renaturalization) and degradation (e.g., urbanization). Through these

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Fig. 1. Geographic location of Sicily in the heart of the Mediterranean Basin showing the study area of Mt. Etna.

processes, traditional landscapes are now shrinking and gradually disappearing (Aalen, 2001; Agnoletti, 2007; Green and Vos, 2001). Traditional agricultural and agroforestry landscapes are characterized by low-intensity systems and land-management activities, providing a high degree of multifunctionality (Jones-Walters, 2008; Pinto-Correia and Vos, 2004; Vos and Klijn, 2000) in terms of production (typical products), environment (e.g., soil protection and biodiversity), and culture (distinctive landscapes). The cultural and ecological relevance of traditional cultural landscapes (TCLs) makes it necessary to increase our knowledge of these landscapes through an integrated, multidisciplinary approach (Farina and Naveh, 1993; Naveh and Liebermann, 1994). Such an approach involves a multi-tiered classication of their environmental variability (both natural and anthropic); landscapes are rst identied on the basis of their primary natural features and then on the basis of anthropic activities over time (Antrop, 1997; Vogiatzakis et al., 2006). Similar integrated approaches have been employed in several inventories and similar initiatives at the European (Bunce, 2001; Meeus, 1995; Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995) and national (APAT, 2003; Blasi, 2007; Firmino, 1999; Hooke, 1998; Van Eetvelde and Antrop, 2009) levels. These studies differ in the particular methodologies used in terms of data inputs and in-depth analyses. A classication of TCLs in Italy has not yet been produced (Barbera and Cullotta, 2009). Devising such a classication is the rst step in the characterization and integrated assessment of their function and conservation. To address this gap, which exists at various territorial levels, the present study emphasizes the importance of an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multi-scale approach to TCLs in a region with high environmental and cultural diversity that make it representative of the Mediterranean area. This approach incorporates inventories and mapping as well as functional characterization,

thus integrating landscape-ecology analyses and traditional cultural land-management descriptions. Here, we describe a case study in which TCLs were identied on Mount Etna (E Sicily) (Fig. 1), a volcano that is one of the highest mountains in the Mediterranean Basin. Because of its planimetry and orography, Mt. Etna is representative of many natural and cultural Mediterranean landscapes as well as agricultural and agroforestry systems. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study area Mt. Etna is roughly a right-circular volcanic cone (Fig. 1), extending over about 137,859 ha and ranging from 0 m to 3350 m a.s.l. Because of its size, Mt. Etna is highly variable in physiography and slope and in natural and anthropogenic biological richness, and it encompasses a great diversity of cultural systems and landscapes (Barbera et al., 2010; Busacca, 2000; Chester et al., 1985; Patan et al., 2004; Poli Marchese, 1982; Poli-Marchese and Patti, 2000; Regione Siciliana; 1996; TCI, 1977). Our study area consists of the volcanic cone and its old and recent lava ows (effusive vents) (Allard et al., 2006; Chester et al., 1985; Favalli et al., 1999; Salvi et al., 2006). The margins of the study area include small landscape patches that are otherwise widespread elements of the surrounding region, such as uvial and uvial-lake incoherent systems and clayey substrates. The study area also includes all recent, old, and/or terraced lava deposits; the latter include marly-clay deposits, varicolored clays, and arenaceous clay or clayey-silt soils (Fierotti, 1988; Regione Siciliana, 1996). Since the Neolithic Age, the study area (as well as all of Sicily) has hosted continuous and intensive agricultural activity, which

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Fig. 2. Phases and scales of the applied methodology (gray background) and their connections with other landscape-mapping processes (e.g., vegetation-pattern landscapes).

has produced the wide range of landscape systems and forms that characterizes the island. Indeed, the Sicilian landscape has been enriched by diverse inuences that, in terms of both crops and culture, have come with the various stages of local history (including the dominion of Greece and Carthage, the Roman Empire, the Arab Agricultural Revolution of the Middle Ages, the introduction of American species, 18th- and 19th-century scientic research) (e.g., Barbera, 2000; Di Pasquale et al., 2004). Mt. Etna is the highest volcano in Europe and by many accounts the most aesthetically regarded volcano in the world. The beauty of its landscape is the result of a unique natural and an exceptional human history that has inspired many great philosophers, artists, scientists from Homer and Plato in the Ancient Greek era to contemporary times. For Romantic-era European travelers of the Grand Tour and todays tourist alike, Mount Etna has often been referred to as: the solemn moment that makes the heart beat of any trip to Sicily (Tuzet, 1988). Of the aesthetic qualities of the Mt. Etna landscape that draw such acclaim, perhaps most notable is the contrast provided between the rocky sublime of the volcano itself and the rolling, pastoral mix of cultivated elds and woodlands that surround it. Historically, the landscape of Etna area evolved through continuous ruptures represented by lava ows that periodically upset ownership and land use. This counterpoint between the death of the sterile lava and the life of the woods and elds provide for a visually complex landscape mosaic that has high cultural and historic value. The present landscape matrix of Mt. Etna is characterized by a mixture of different traditional land uses and land covers. In general, natural and semi-natural communities (especially forests and

shrublands) prevail above 1000 m a.s.l. (Poli-Marchese and Patti, 2000). Below 1000 m a.s.l., the matrix is agricultural and contains various combinations of closed agro-forestry systems (i.e., coltura promiscua) (Barbera et al., 2004; Busacca, 2000). 2.2. Multidisciplinary approach In landscape ecology, researchers usually employ a hierarchicalclassication approach to analyze discrete environmental units according to a set of applied controlling factors (Howard and Mitchell, 1980; Klijn and Udo de Haes, 1994; Zonneveld, 1995). The idea is to identify homogeneous environmental units according to the scale of observation. A set of informative factors that match the relevant geoinformative level can provide a further description of landscapes in geographical, ecological, and cultural terms. These factors include geomorphology, geology, climate, soil, vegetation, agricultural land use, history, and cultural perceptions (Forman and Godron, 1986; Zonneveld, 1995). First, landscapes are identied on the basis of their primary abiotic natural factors (physiography, lithology, climate, and territorial topology). Second, landscapes can be classied based on their biotic features and anthropic activity over time (natural vegetation cover, agricultural land use, and other thematic maps may be useful) (Antrop, 1997; Vogiatzakis et al., 2006). For example, the landscape character assessment (LCA) approach tends to dene landscape character as a distinct, recognisable and consistent pattern of elements in the landscape that makes one landscape different from another (Swanwick, 2002). Unique

S. Cullotta, G. Barbera / Landscape and Urban Planning 100 (2011) 98108 Table 1 Primary landscape components and features in traditional cultural landscapes (TCLs) and in non-TCLs, especially in Mediterranean areas. Main components Landscape composition and conguration: Patch composition Patch shape Patch conguration Corridors Remnant natural patches Traditional techniques of land management: Mechanisation Local plant varieties Crop rotation Crop promiscuity Fertilization Animal traction Livestock grazing Local animal races Specic and intra-specic biodiversity: Natural species Cultivated species Cultivated varieties Rural linear elements and features: Stonewalls Terraces Dry-stone enclosures Hedgerows and ecotones Green belts Tracks and footpaths Small ponds Small animal and human shelters Material heritage features: Old rural country houses and settlements Local agronomic and forestry manual tools Old tools and machines (wine presses, water mills, water tanks, etc.) Manuscripts Poems Historic paintings and pictures Non-material heritage features: Toponyms Dialects Music Other oral tradition TCLs Modern cultural landscapes Natural and semi-natural landscapes

101

Agronomic and forestry land-uses/covers (domus-hortus-ager-saltus-sylva) Heterogeneous (topography) Mostly dispersed/clumped Mostly present Mostly present

Only agronomic land-uses (domus-ager) Regular (geometric) Mostly uniform Mostly not present Absent

Largely forest and pre-forest stands (saltus-sylva) Heterogeneous Mostly uniform Present (Only natural cover)

Usually not employed Employed Employed Employed Organic Present (today mostly remnant/relict) Present (in rotation) Employed

Employed Usually not employed Not employed Not employed Chemical Absent Absent Usually not employed

Employed/not employed Natural varieties / / / Present (mostly remnant) Present Employed

High (plants and animals) Medium-high (polyculture) Medium-high (polyculture) Widespread (according to the presence of rock outcrop) Generally widespread Generally widespread Generally widespread Generally present Highly present Present Present

Absent (or very low) Low (monoculture) Low (monoculture) Absent Absent Absent Mostly absent Mostly absent Present Mostly not present Absent

High (ora and fauna) Low-absent low-absent Absent Absent Absent Present (Natural cover) Present / Present

Present/widespread Employed Present and mostly employed Present/widespread Present Present/widespread

Absent Not employed Absent Absent Absent Absent

Absent or isolated Employed Absent Present Present Present

Present/widespread Present (words and phrases linked to rural life) Present Present

Absent Absent Absent Absent

Present Present Present Present

combinations of geology, landform, soils, vegetation, land use, eld patterns and human settlement create the character, which makes different landscapes distinct from each other and gives each its particular sense of place (Swanwick, 2004). This process aims to identifying areas of similar character, classifying and mapping them and describing their particular landscape type. Following these considerations, various hierarchical frameworks for land classication and mapping have been designed (Blasi et al., 2000; Zonneveld, 1995). From a higher to a lower level of abstraction, the following environmental units have been delineated (see Blasi et al., 2000): land regions (detected by macroclimatic features scale > 1:250,000); land systems (primarily dened according to signicant lithological and geographical differences scale 1:500,0001:250,000); land facets (identied according to morphology and bioclimatic types and showing units where major vegetation series and land-cover types prevail scale 1:250,0001:50,000); and land units and land elements (including vegetation series and syntaxonomic associations, respectively scale < 1:50,000). In dening landscape-typological models for the mapping of vegetation patterns, Blasi et al. (2005) have proposed a combined

approach including both deductive (for abiotic ecological factors) and inductive (for vegetation types) processes. Here, we suggest a possible methodology for the denition of TCLs based not only on land-cover and land-use maps (sectorial approach) but also on a combination of deductive and inductive processes (combined multidisciplinary approach). This procedure identies and denes TCLs within homogeneous environmental units (in terms of climatic, lithological, and geomorphological factors) and arranges them within a hierarchical classication system. Fig. 2 shows the integrated methodology for mapping TCLs. The interactions between biophysical features and human activities (see the methodological explanations below) and their differentiation compared to other landscape-mapping processes (e.g., landscape of vegetation patterns) are highlighted. 2.3. Denition and characterization of a traditional cultural landscape (TCL) For a TCL inventory, it is necessary to begin by dening a traditional landscape. The word traditional refers to landscapes with long histories and slow rates of change in accordance with

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the environment (Antrop, 1997; Antrop, 2005). Traditional landscapes are partly natural and partly cultural, resulting from the long-term interaction between humans and nature (Farina, 1998; UNESCO, 1999). They are often characterized by a small spatial scale, limited technology, low use of fertilizers and pesticides, high biodiversity with a mosaic of important wildlife habitats, and amenity value (Altieri and Nicholls, 2002; Moreira et al., 2006; Vos and Klijn, 2000). Such structural and functional characteristics separate traditional land uses from modern agricultural systems. Most traditional agricultural systems, and the traditional landscapes where they occur, remained unchanged in EuroMediterranean countries (e.g., Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece) until the mid-twentieth century (Geri et al., 2010b; GomezLimon and Fernandez, 1999; Grove and Rackham, 2002; Kizos and Koulouri, 2006; Mazzoleni et al., 2004b; Moreira et al., 2001; Petanidou et al., 2008; Pinto-Correia, 2000; Sereni, 1961; Sirami et al., 2010). These systems were based on locally available resources and on multi-crop and multifunctional production models. In Italy, for example, the number of modern landscapes and agricultural systems increased remarkably from the mid- to late-1950s onward (Agnoletti, 2007; Di Gennaro, 2007), when the country underwent substantial industrialization. In a pan-European landscape inventory, Meeus placed these landscapes among the most typical in the region (regional landscapes), giving them names such as Coltura promiscua, Montados/Dehesa, Polder, Bocages, Semi-bocages, Mountains, and Terraces (Meeus, 1995). All of these types are cultural, man-made landscapes, each with distinguishing features. According to the European Landscape Convention (Article 1; Council of Europe, 2000), it is crucial to examine both ecological and socio-economic landscape attributes and features. Therefore, our work includes both aspects, aiming to dene a more comprehensive and global landscape inventory that can be used as a basic knowledge set for the development of dynamic strategies, holistic planning initiatives, and cultural landscape conservation. In dening a cultural landscape, aspects such as its structure, conguration, scenery, biodiversity, and economic value should be taken into account because they all contribute to the interactions between natural and cultural features. In this study, we considered the following primary components (see Table 1 and Moreira et al., 2006): Landscape composition and conguration. Traditional techniques of land management. Rural linear elements and features. Other material and non-material heritage features.

stone walls, terraces, dry-stone enclosures, stone towers, small animal and human shelters, hedgerows, tracks and footpaths, ponds. Other important heritage features include material and nonmaterial elements: traditional architecture (old rural country houses and settlements and their distribution patterns) (Canas et al., 2009; Fuentes et al., 2010), manuscripts, poems, historic paintings and pictures, toponyms, dialects, forms of social organization, music, oral traditions, and tools such as wine presses, water mills, and water tanks. A preliminary analysis suggests that TCLs and natural or seminatural landscapes show many similarities (see Table 1). 2.4. Data processing and mapping The spatial data layers used in this study to classify and map the Mt. Etna-area TCLs (see Fig. 3) include geomorphology (substrates and soils, climate, land cover and land use) and selected historical documents hinting at important rural processes (a detailed map of terraced systems in Sicily). These data sources include the following: a map of the land systems of Italy (Sistemi di Paesaggi dItalia) (Blasi, 2007), with 37 land systems detected in Sicily and 4 in the Mt. Etna area; the division of Sicily into 18 territorial contexts (sensu subregional areas) (Regione Siciliana, 1996) on the basis of key geomorphological factors and general cultural characteristics, such as territorial units considered for sub-regional environmental and landscape planning; a map of the most recurrent agricultural landscapes in Sicily (mainly an aggregation of land uses) drafted for the Linee Guida del Piano Territoriale Paesistico Regionale (Guidelines for the Regional Landscape Plan; Regione Siciliana, 1996); the CORINE Land Cover 2000 database (EEA, 2000) and its technical implementation throughout Italy, including the relevant map and a detailed classication system (CLC 2005 APAT, 2005); a map of terraces in Sicily (Barbera et al., 2010), the rst inventory of terraced areas in the whole region; a map of land uses in Sicily, with greater detail for agricultural uses, drafted for the 1994 Agricultural Census (Regione Siciliana, 1994); several detailed land-use maps drafted for local agricultural uses and forest management practices. All data were referenced to the same geographic system (UTM 32N datum WGS84) and combined in a Geographic Information System (GIS) using ArcGIS - ArcView 9.2 software (ESRI). Within this framework, the vector layers were used in the different phases of the hierarchical procedure to detect TCLs (Fig. 3). In phase 1, the climatic, lithological, and geomorphological factors (as shown in the land system map; Blasi, 2007) and a map of the eighteen primary territorial contexts in Sicily (Regione Siciliana, 1996), which includes the Mt. Etna area, were overlaid in a GIS to geographically divide the land systems into sub-regional areas, thus dening Land Systems of Territorial Context or LSTCs (scale 1:250,0001:100,000; Figs. 2 and 3). In phase 2 (scale 1:100,0001:25,000; Figs. 2 and 3), only the Mt. Etna study area was considered (sub-regional scale). Landscapes of Main Agroforestry Systems (LMASs) were outlined within LSTCs through a map-overlaying procedure involving overall land-cover and land-use maps and thematic maps of relevant rural features (including the map of primary agricultural landscapes, the Corine Land Cover map, and the terraced-areas map). An LMAS, therefore, includes all relevant landscapes with different degrees of: naturalness or anthropization;

Landscape patches and their conguration are particularly relevant in cultural landscapes. Land-cover and land-use types (both natural and anthropogenic) and their spatial patterns signicantly contribute to environmental sustainability and historical/scenic identity within a cultural landscape. Traditional land-management practices and techniques have formed these landscapes across centuries. The agricultural, forestry, and agroforestry systems that have been employed show ecological stability over time, often maintaining a high level of biodiversity (at the species and structural levels) (Table 1). Management practices and techniques include types of animal husbandry and livestock grazing, uses of local breeds (Moreira et al., 2006), local agronomic tools, and crop rotation and mixing. Specic management practices and the best uses of land space (which are particularly important in the Mediterranean area for physiographical reasons) have produced various types of small (punctual) and linear rural heritage features. Usually constructed from local lithological or vegetal materials, these structures include

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Fig. 3. Phases of dataset processing according to the three scales of analysis and the hierarchical denition and mapping of landscape units (for landscape-unit numbers, see Table 2).

agricultural intensication or extensication (i.e., monoculture vs. mixed crops and agroforestry systems), and the absence or presence of rural features (e.g., stonewalls, terraces, and hedgerows). Finally, in phase 3 (scale 1:25,0001:10,000; Figs. 2 and 3), TCLs were identied within the agro-forestry systems through an overlaying procedure entailing the LMAS map and a detailed regional land-use map of both agricultural uses and forestry or agroforestry practices. The presence of traditional agricultural land uses was veried from a checklist of traditional and historical practices carried out at the regional level.

Reference units and their denominations identied during the three processing phases are reported in Table 2. Fig. 3 shows a graph comparing the different landscape units in spatial terms, thus taking into account the greater detail incorporated as we progress from phase 1 to phase 3.

3. Results: Mt. Etna as a case study On a territorial scale, the rst phase led to the identication of four LSTCs, all showing a prevalence of volcanic substrate; in the second phase, seven LMASs were detected (Fig. 3). Their denom-

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Table 2 Hierarchical classication system for landscape types (s.l.) detected in different phases for the study area of Mt. Etna. Land system of territorial contexts (LSTC) (Phase 1) Landscape of main agroforestry systems (LMAS) (Phase 2) Traditional cultural landscapes (TCL) (Phase 3) (only the epithet of the traditional characteristic land use, which is added to the denomination detected in phase 2 (middle column), is reported) / 1.2.1 . . .. . .. . . of beech coppice 1.2.2 . . .. . .. . . of chestnut coppice 1.2.3 . . .. . .. . . of deciduous and evergreen oak coppice 1.2.4 . . .. . .. . . of laricio pine high forest 1.3.1 . . .. . .. . . of vineyards

1. Basic and intermediate volcanos of Mt. Etna

1.1. High-altitude extra-forest volcanic landscape 1.2. Mountain forest volcanic landscape

1.3. Submountain-basal volcanic landscape with ne-grained land mosaic of agroforestry systems (coltura promiscua) and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces)

1.4. Subcoastal-basal volcanic landscape with generally irrigated agricultural systems and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces) 2. Coastal plains and uvial deltas of Mt. Etna 2.1. Coastal-plain volcanic landscape with intensive irrigated agricultural systems and a considerable presence of articial surfaces (human settlements) 3.1. Mainly sandy-conglomerate relief landscape (the Alcantara River Basin) with diversied agroforestry systems and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces)

1.3.2 . . .. . .. . . of pistachio-nut orchards 1.3.3 . . .. . .. . . of hazelnut orchards 1.3.4 . . .. . .. . . of mixed orchards and crops 1.4.1 . . .. . .. . . of citrus orchards

1.4.2 . . .. . .. . . of mixed orchards and crops 2.1.1 . . .. . .. . . of citrus orchards

3. Mainly arenaceous-conglomeratic compact reliefs of Mt. Etna

2.1.2 . . .. . .. . . of mixed orchards and crops 3.1.1 . . .. . .. . . of mixed orchards and crops

4. Marly rock reliefs of Mt. Etna

4.1. Marly, terraced, and alluvial relief landscape (the Simeto River Valley) with diversied agroforestry systems and little presence of rural heritage features

3.1.2 . . .. . .. . . of sowable elds and pastureland 4.1.1 . . .. . .. . . of mixed orchards and crops

4.1.2 . . .. . .. . . of sowable elds and pastureland

inations reect their physiography and the distribution of major crops and/or vegetative cover. Interestingly, LMASs (i.e., macroagriculture landscapes) seem to match particular altitudinal ranges (Table 2). The landscapes detected in this phase are listed below. 1.1 High-altitude extra-forest volcanic landscape. Located above 2000 m, this LMAS is characterized by high-altitude open pulvini (prostrate) vegetation and volcanic desert. 1.2 Mountain-forest volcanic landscape. With an altitude ranging from 1100 to 2000 m a.s.l., this type of landscape may vary in terms of prevailing species (deciduous and evergreen oaks, chestnut, European beech, laricio pine, various endemic shrubs) and forestry-management or structural systems (currently maintained coppice, old and abandoned coppice, coppice in conversion to high forest, high forest, and forest stands undergoing natural succession dynamics). 1.3 Submountain-basal volcanic landscape with ne-grained land mosaic of agroforestry systems (coltura promiscua) and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces). Located in the foothills (400/5001000/1100 m), this LMAS shows a high density of terraced areas and a diversied landscape mosaic (see Fig. 5a and b). Mixed fruit crops and other traditional crops, such as pistachios, hazelnuts, and vineyards, prevail. Several currently uncultivated agricultural areas are visible between forest patches, within variable-structural patches, or within zones that are difcult to categorize. Here, forest regeneration and human settlements are the main causes of landscape transformation (Fig. 4).

1.4 Subcoastal-basal volcanic landscape with generally irrigated agricultural systems and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces). Usually located below 300400 m, these landscapes often show a high density of terraced areas and a diversied landscape mosaic. Irrigated fruit crops (citrus fruits) and mixed crops (such as olive and almond trees, pistachios, and cactus pears) prevail. Here, the abandonment of agriculture, urbanization, and the building of new infrastructure are the main causes of landscape transformation. 2.1 Coastal-plain volcanic landscape with intensive irrigated agricultural systems and a considerable presence of articial surfaces (human settlements). This type of landscape is characterized by fruit orchards (citrus groves), vegetable gardens, and articial surfaces. Here, the abandonment of agriculture, urbanization, and the building of new infrastructure are the main causes of landscape transformation. 3.1 Mainly compact sandy-conglomerate relief landscape (the Alcantara River Basin) with diversied agroforestry systems and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces). This set of areas is heterogeneous due to diverse physiography and landcover and land-use types. These areas predominantly feature fruit crops such as pears, apples, plums, chestnuts, walnuts, cactus pears, almonds, hazelnuts, olives, mulberries, and grapes. 4.1 Marly, terraced, and alluvial relief landscape (the Simeto River Valley) with diversied agroforestry systems and little presence of rural heritage features. This set of areas is also het-

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Fig. 4. Renaturation through the encroachment of shrub-tree cover in natural vegetation.

erogeneous in terms of its land-cover and land-use types and predominantly features fruit crops such as pears, apples, almonds, cactus pears, pistachios, olives, and grapes as well as locally widespread grazing pastures. In general, LMAS conservation appears to decrease as altitude decreases (Fig. 3). For example, within the most widespread LMASs in our study area (types 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4; Fig. 3), the major changes in land cover and use occur along the foothills (type 1.3) and the coast (type 1.4), where agroforestry systems and rural features prevail. The primary explanation for such changes is the abandonment of agriculture, which has resulted in landscape transformation due to widespread renaturation (Fig. 4), especially in low-altitude forested areas, and anthropization (i.e., urbanization and the building of new infrastructure), especially along the coast and near areas with high population densities. In the third phase (Fig. 3), sixteen TCLs were identied. Their denominations are the same as in Phase 2, with the addition of descriptive phrases designating their traditional land uses (Table 2). As an example, one of the most widespread TCLs in our study area is described below. 1.3.1 TCL consisting of a submountain-basal volcanic landscape with a ne-grained land mosaic of coltura promiscua and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces) of vineyards (Fig. 5). This TCL is a subunit of LMAS 1.3 from Phase 2. Its landscape composition and conguration are characterized by a small-scale land-use mosaic of crops, shrubland, and forests (Fig. 5a and 5b). The proportions of these primary land-use classes have changed over the last century. Traditional vineyard systems were particularly widespread during the nineteenth century and the rst half of the twentieth century (Busacca, 2000). Subsequently, diffuse land abandonment occurred, resulting in the

progressive regeneration of shrubland (Fig. 4). Vineyards are now mainly distributed along the foothills of the northern and northeastern slopes of Mt. Etna, with small to medium-sized patches of both pure and mixed (coltura promiscua) crops. Traditional landmanagement techniques include irregularly spaced grapevines and old grapevine plants (Fig. 5c and 5d). Linear and point rural features are often detected, especially dry-stone terraces and walls (Fig. 5ad), dry-stone enclosures, small stone towers (from stone gathering), stone-paved pathways (agstones) and small stairs or staircases connecting different terracing levels, stone water tanks, and small votive artifacts (as documented in a sizable literature). The scattered old rural settlements in each vineyard property include small and simple structures (i.e., single or double rooms) and larger houses with several rooms (e.g., winery, wine cellar, storeroom for agronomic cultivation tools, courtyard, and sharecropper (mezzadro) rooms, all of which make up the country residence of a middle- or noble-class landowner; Barbera et al., 2010) (see Fig. 5g and h). In the local dialect, much of the terminology is related to agronomic techniques, tools (Fig. 5f), and layouts of a traditional farm, and various local economic activities are still linked to traditional land-management techniques, such as the use of chestnut coppices for wood production along the vegetated belt of Mt. Etna (included in the mountain forest landscapes; Table 2). The wood thus obtained is used to make barrel staves and grapevine supports (Fig. 5c and 5d).

4. Discussion and conclusions The conservation of traditional landscapes is an issue of growing importance. A preliminary inventory is an essential tool to acquire

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Fig. 5. Components and features of a traditional cultural landscape (TCL) of type 1.3.1 (Submountain-basal volcanic landscape with ne-grained land mosaic of coltura promiscua and a considerable presence of rural heritage features (terraces) of vineyards) (NE slope of Mt. Etna): (ab) landscape composition and conguration of land-use mosaics in agroforestry systems (coltura promiscua) dominated by vineyards, with widespread forest and pre-forest patches; (cd) details of a traditional vineyard for local production with dry-stone walls, terraces, and old grapevine plants fastened to chestnut stakes; (e) illustration of the historic landscape with terraces (Escher, 1932); (f) a rural monument built with parts of a large old wine press made of local chestnut and oak wood; (g) a landowners country residence with winery and wine cellar on the ground oor; (h) a common rural country house with winery, wine cellar, storeroom, and a small residence.

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more complete knowledge of the consistency and variability of the landscapes in a given area, whether in a single nation or throughout Europe. The European Landscape Convention of Florence (2000) implied the need for an overall knowledge of European landscapes, in contrast to previous locally focused endeavors in this eld. However, few studies have catalogued traditional agroforestry landscapes through a multidisciplinary approach at either the national or the regional level in Italy and other Mediterranean countries. In Sicily, for example, efforts to dene and classify TCLs have been inconclusive despite the existing literature on land management in particular geographical areas and on major local agroforestry systems. In more general terms, there is currently no uniform methodology for landscape-inventory and description initiatives in Italy. Such a methodology is greatly needed to guide policy making and to provide consistency in cross-border landscape connection and classication at different levels. The proposed methodological approach, which integrates abiotic and biotic parameters to identify TCLs on and around Mt. Etna, represents an advanced standardization procedure. In particular, basing the identication of TCLs on a robust and wide-ranging ecological analysis (i.e., through the detection of homogeneous environmental units, sensu Land Systems) is an important achievement. This procedure makes it possible to interrelate and combine (based on the scale involved) different landscape-classication systems (e.g., ecoregions and landscape units of real vegetation cover). This eco-environmental stratication denes TCLs in successive stages on the basis of the anthropic activity that shapes each land-cover and land-use type. The identication of traditional landscape components (landscape composition and conguration, land-management techniques, linear and point rural features, and other heritage features) makes it possible to dene traditional cultural landscapes consistently and efciently. From this point of view, the analysis conducted on the territory of Mt. Etna illuminates the history and role this area played in the formation of the idea of the Mediterranean landscape. By characterizating the most signicant material and non-material elements of rural heritage features (traditional management practices and tools, stone-made buildings and walls, dry-stone enclosures and terraces, manuscripts and poems, paintings and historic pictures, dialects and other oral tradition, etc...), the analysis shows the key roles that historical and cultural resources play as part of the multidisciplinary approach to TCL formation. The present case study of the Mt. Etna area is representative of the variability found throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The study area exhibits an extremely rich physical and biological environment combined with interesting historical and cultural processes that are evident in the several TCLs identied. Considering the highly diversied land-use patterns and agroforestry practices in Mediterranean cultural landscapes, the drafting of an inventory and a classication system should be given more attention, and further technical and scientic research is needed. Of course, adjustments will be needed to create a uniform TCL language and to reduce (but not eliminate) the subjective elements in the combined mapping process, especially in the inductive procedure. Acknowledgements The research was partially supported by PRIN 2007 prot. 2007S2CNC4 (University Programs of Scientic Relevance, Italian Ministry of Research and University Education), and by the Regional Project Catalogo dei paesaggi tradizionali agrari e agroforestali (A catalogue of traditional agricultural and forest landscapes).

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