Reconciling Nature and Culture in a Global Context? - Rainforest ...

Reconciling Nature and Culture in a Global Context?Lessons from the World Heritage ListCHAPTER FIVE – ‘NATURAL’ CULTURALLANDSCAPES: THE CASE OF VAL D’ORCIA,TUSCANYThere exist a great variety of Landscapes that are representative of thedifferent regions of the world. Combined works of nature and humankind, theyexpress a long and intimate relationship between peoples and their naturalenvironment – ICOMOS, World Heritage Cultural LandscapesVal d’Orcia in the province of Siena, Tuscany, is the most recently inscribed ‘culturallandscape’ on the World Heritage List. Val d’Orcia was originally nominated by the ItalianGovernment on the basis of four cultural criteria (ii, iii, iv and vi). However, the placement ofthe valley formed by the Orcia River on the List in 2004 was eventually justified in terms ofjust two, (iv) and (vi), of the ten criteria outlined in the Operational Guidelines for theImplementation of the World Heritage Convention for ‘outstanding universal value’. As suchVal d’Orcia is described as an “exceptional reflection of the way landscape was rewritten inRenaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and to create an aestheticallypleasing picture” and as a landscape “celebrated by painters from Siennese School. In thislast regard, the World Heritage inscription states that “images of the Val d’Orcia, andparticularly depictions of landscapes where people are depicted as living in harmony withnature […] have profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking” (ICOMOS2004: 136).Val d’Orcia, together with a number of other World Heritage properties, including the‘Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland’ (2000), the ‘Viñales Valley’ in Cuba (1999), the‘Costiera Amalfitana’ and ‘Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands’ of Italy (both listed in1997), the ‘Alto Douro Wine Region’ of Portugal (2001), and the ‘Loire Valley’ in France(2000), are all instances of ‘functional landscapes’ (Fowler 2003: 52). As ‘workingagricultural landscapes’, which bring together “cultural and natural scenic values” (UNESCOWord Heritage Centre website), these properties represent examples of the many agrarianthemedproperties inscribed on the List. While these various properties are identified asoutstanding examples of ‘wine-growing’, ‘tobacco-growing’, ‘stock-raising’, etc., to date thereis no means of “rationally assessing in global terms [these properties] as agriculturallandscapes in Europe” (Fowler 2003: 52). As Fowler points out, there is a “need for athematic, comparative study of ‘ordinary’ agricultural landscapes” (loc. cit.).The ‘agricultural’ landscape of Val d’Orcia consists of rolling hills above chalk plains. Theseplains are criss-crossed by cypress pine-lined avenues and are home to large elaboratefarmhouses surrounded by fields of vines, olives and cereal crops (Figure 19). Out of thisagricultural vista rise a number of conical hills, on top of which cluster fortified settlements(Figure 20). The larger hill-top settlements dating from the thirteenth century includeMontalcino, Castiglion d’Orcia, Rocca d’Orcia, Minticchello, Radicofani, San Quirico d’Orciaand Pienza. The Historic Centre of the City of Pienza was World Heritage listed in 1996 asthe first example of the Renaissance humanist concept of urban design.The long history of human occupation of Val d’Orcia is evident in prehistoric archaeologicalremains. The valley also played an important role during the Etruscan period and in thedevelopment of the Roman Empire (ICOMOS 2004: 133). It appears that the region wasabandoned agriculturally in the Middle Ages, however by the eleventh century the economyhad revived and monasteries and villages were established in the area (ICOMOS 2004: 133).The rise of Sienna as a trading state in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries led to theexpansion of its agricultural base. Val d’Orcia was colonised and the wealth of Siennesemerchants was invested in turning the landscape “into productive farmland within an61