land Article Land Use Dynamics of Drove Roads: The Case of Tratturo Castel di Sangro-Lucera (Molise, Italy) Michele Minotti * ID , Carmen Giancola, Piera Di Marzio ID and Paolo Di Martino ID Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, C.da Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche (IS), Italy;
[email protected] (C.G.);
[email protected] (P.D.Marz.);
[email protected] (P.D.Mart.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-08-7440-4111 Received: 23 August 2017; Accepted: 5 January 2018; Published: 8 January 2018 Abstract: Organized transhumant pastoralism has contributed to shaping the cultural landscape of many countries. It has affected areas designated for grazing, temporary and permanent shelters, and towns. Through the analysis of historical maps and recent information, in a temporal range from 1652 to 2014, this study focused on changes in land cover and conservation status of one of the main Italian transhumance paths, namely the Tratturo Castel di Sangro-Lucera. Although there are some areas where this drove road is still recognizable, it is mostly identifiable only through a few tangible signs. The methodological approach, which we present in this study, allowed us to compare historical and recent cartographies as well as archive documentation. The resulting virtual reinstatement is proposed as an efficient method for the conservation and management of material cultural heritage and can be applied in other countries with transhumance drove roads (e.g., France, Portugal). Keywords: drove roads; transhumance; land use change; reinstatement; squatting; Molise (Italy) 1. Introduction Pastoralism has been widely practiced all over the world, starting with the Neolithic period [1] and nowadays can be divided into three types: pastoral farming (pastoral mobility with little or no long-distance movement); nomadic pastoralism (pastoral mobility in highly irregular patters); and transhumant pastoralism (regular back-and-forth movements between relatively fixed locations) [2].