1-3 March 2018 Ancient pollards in “coltura promiscua” in North-Eastern

Viviana Ferrario Associate professor in Geography Università Iuav di Venezia 1. What is “coltura promiscua” 2. Pollarding the trees and pruning the vines to let them live together. The "Bottari" method (1810) 3. Coltura promiscua rapid decline (sec. XX) and relicts in North east Italy 4. Learning from "coltura promiscua" (some principles) + + grapevines trees grains (or meadows)

Three different crops, associated with each other, in the same field (Desplanques, 1959) «Alberata tosco-umbro-marchigiana» (Central Italy)

The landscape of Central Italy «coltura An old farmer pruning a grapevine on a helm promiscua» near Camerino (Da: A. Sestini, near Perugia (Da: H. Desplanques, Campagnes Il Paesaggio italiano, TCI 1963, fig. 90) ombriennes, Paris, Colin 1969, fig. 18b) «arbustato» o «alberata aversana» (near Naples)

Scaricare foto BN arbustato

https://vinoestoria.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/le-viti-maritate-dellagro- campano-in-eta-moderna/ «Piantata padana» (Northern Italy: )

The «piantata padana» sull’Appennino romagnolo (Verucchio) (da: A. Sestini, Il Paesaggio italiano, Touring Club Italiano 1963, fig. 82) In Northern Italy: «piantata padana»

The local «piantata» in the region () (Royal Air Force, 1943) 2. Pollarding trees and pruning vines to let them live together Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sidere terram, vertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adiungere vitis conveniat…” (VIRGIL, Georgics, I)

“Transpadana Italia, praeter supra dictas, cornu, opulo, tilia, acere, orno, carpino, quercu arbustat agros, Venetia salice propter uliginem soli” (PLINIO, Naturalis Historia, XVII, 198-211). Trees in coltura promiscua

Maples Elms Poplars Walnuts Ash Fruit trees Willows Olive trees Mulberries

From: H. Desplanques, Il paesaggio della coltura promiscua in Italia, «Rivista Geografica Italiana», LXVI (1959), pp. 29-64 G. D. Tiepolo, Rest of the farmers, 1757 (detail) «La lombria de l’albaro azzefò No fa male al terren, fa buone legne Al dispieto de quanti ga stuggiò” (Lucio Marchesini, Stuggio del boaro, Vicenza 1610)

«In Visintina poi bruscano con la maggior parte dei Trevisani, portando tutti li capi della vide sopra li zeffi dell’arbore, tirandoli in quantità da un’arbore all’altro, legandoli tanto nel vecchio, quando nel giovane». (Giacomo Agostinetti, Cento e dieci ricordi che formano il buon fattor di villa, Treviso 1679) Three editions of the Giovanni Bottari’s booklet (1810, 1824, 1838) 2.50 0.35 0.35 5.00 m. A relict of «coltura promiscua» (maples and «grinto» vine) trained by Ivaldo, 65 (foto V. Ferrario, 2014) 3. The decline of coltura promiscua (XX century) Istituto Geografico Militare (1929) (PD) Relicts of coltura promiscua observed and mapped in the Veneto region

1. Fiels system preserved (a sequence of «piantate» and arable or meadow in-between) 2. Vineyards with pollards (sometimes the piantate have been incorporate in a new vineyard) 3. «Piantata» alone; 4. Intermediate situations: a pollard row without vines, or a vine planted in place of the ancient piantata An isolated «piantata» in San Vito di Leguzzano (VI) (2016) A piantata in (PD) (2013) trained by Antonio, breeder, 45 Piantata in Scaldaferro (VI) (2017) during vine pruning A vineyard with «Raboso» vines, trained on mulberry pollards (Tezze di Piave TV) (2014) Vineyard with pollards in Brendola (VI) (2015) «Coltura promiscua» in Baver (2014), classed by the Ministry of Culture in 2015

Piantata abbandonata

An abandoned piantata in Grantorto (2015) 4. Learning from "coltura promiscua" (some principles) The ongoing research about coltura promiscua in the region of . How it changed over time? . How and why the decline happened? . What is nowadays left (empirical research)? . Why relicts could have been preserved until now (landscape values)? . Can this help to define new policies and strategies? Distilling some general principles from «coltura promiscua»

1. Spatial multifuctionality

2. Space multiplication (vertical polyculture)

3. Resilience by diversity

4. Labour-intensive production Thank you [email protected] Coltura promiscua in the literature

Recording the decline of coltura promiscua (Sereni, 1955, 1957, 1961; Desplanques 1959, 1975; Meynier, 1958; Gambi, 1961, 1973; Landi, 1985)

Increasing historical knowledge about its origins, transformations, and dismission (Settia, 1992; Sereno, 1992; Cazzola, 1996, 2007)

Coltura promiscua as one of the European (mediterranean) «traditional» agricultural landscapes (Pinto Correia and Vos, 2003; Zimmermann, 2006)

The survival of these landscapes is in danger due to urbanisation and conventional agriculture (Meeus et al., 1990; Green, Vos, 2003; Agnoletti, 2012; Barbera et al., 2014; Plieninger, 2015).

Preserving “traditional” agricultural landscapes is important - As they are a common European heritage - As they contain a lesson for the future of European Agriculture, of multifuctionality ante litteram Some results from the survey

1. Different kind of relicts: only a single piantata left, only vines, only trees (this last is the most common situation)

2. For inanimate landscape elements (houses, hamlets, roads, even fences) inertia means conservation at least for long time; for living elements inertia means instead decline, even in a few years: their conservation must be active.

3. Landscape values vary through time: the choice of preserving coltura promiscua is not a decision taken once and for all, but it has to be continuously riconfirmed. Conservation happen in absolute freedom, since there is no protection law or policy at the moment in this region. What are farmers’ motivations today? Motivations (in-depth interviews)

• Economic motivations: supplementary income, food/feed/timber supply • Emotional bond (e.g. memory of the family) • Functional: expressing an ability; satisfaction for a well done job; practicing an open-air activity • Social motivations: a way to meet friends (e.g. grape harvest) • Cultural motivations: the will to transmit an ancient know-how

Not only a personal choice: the importance of the social/familial context (a cultural association supporting the conservations; a son or nephew interested; the family consuming products)

Threatens reported are referred to the great amount of time spent taking care of the coltura promiscua. Some provisional conclusions

In the case of Seta Etica, historical landscape conservation is an unintended consequence of an economic activity

Classification provided by the Ministry of Culture is not enough to maintain historical landscapes

Time spending and labour intensive maintenance activity on historical landscapes can be afforded for plenty of reasons, all of them included in a broad definition of landscape and landscape value.

Economic self-sufficiency is crucial. If economic revenues are high enough (silk, wine) it woth it. In the case of coltura promiscua we need a market for each production (complexity; logistics)

Necessity to cross and integrate protection policies with development policies Piantata padanan

J. R. Cozens, Veduta da Mirabella, view of the Veneto plane from the Euganei hills, 1782 (Londra, Victoria and Albert Museum) Gelsaia, Raboso