Walker - 1967 - A geography of Italy

THE ALPS
carries the main line from Paris to Turin (and so to Genoa and Rome), although
called the M t Cenis route, actually underlies the Fréjus Pass.
Busy as they are in the tourist season, the two routes converging on Cuneo are
of less importance internationally. One, the Maddalena (Col de Lärche, 1996m),
joins the Ubaye (a tributary o f the Durance) and the Stura di Demonte, while the
other, the Tenda (Tende, 1908m) connects Cuneo and Nice along the valleys o f
the Vermenagna and Roya. The Maddalena is often blocked in winter, but the
Tenda, whose summit is avoided by a tunnel, is only closed occasionally. Despite
repeated agitations for its reopening, the railway from Cuneo to Nice is still out
of service as a result o f wartime destruction, so that in fact only one railway
pierces the western Alps.
Only 6% o f the area under consideration is cultivated; the rest is classed as
forest (32%), pasture (44%) and waste. On the fluvial and glacial deposits flooring
the two deep trenches the cultivation retains something o f the character o f
the adjoining plain with maize, fodder and hard fruits occupying much o f the
cultivated land. There are also numerous vineyards on the south-facing lower
slopes. In the higher and narrower valleys the typical farm unit consists o f three
elements; near the hamlet on the valley bottom or lower slopes, a patchwork o f
tiny fields produces hay, rye and potatoes with occasionally a few vines. On the
middle slopes, often on a sunny shoulder, a few rudimentary structxures mark the
temporary halting place o f the spring and autumn animal migrations to the high
pastures; even at this height, frequently 1700m, suitable slopes are used for
potatoes and rye as well as hay. Further up are the high pastures where cattle are
grazed, mainly on communal land, in the care o f a few professional cowherds.
With so many Piedmontese valleys trending east-west aspect is particularly important
in the location o f settlement and cultivation, but the nature o f the rock
is also relevant. For example, the calcareous schists provide more workable
terrain and better soils than the pietre verdi, so that in the Val Maira cultivation
is pushed up to over 1800m, some 300m higher than in the upper Po Valley.
Throughout the western Alps the pressure of population on the agricultural
resources is excessive and deforestation for arable and pasture has far exceeded
the desirable limits; the peasant usually owns the land he works but his holding
rarely exceeds two or three hectares. Although there is always something melancholy
about the sight o f abandoned farmsteads, the drift from the land which has
been accelerating over the last fifty years, is inevitable and desirable. Emigration
is traditional both overseas (mainly to Argentina) and to France, where Piedmontese
have widely established themselves on land abandoned by local farmers.
The industries o f the plain of Piedmont have absorbed their share o f mountaineers
and in recent decades their capacity to do so has increased notably. The movement
of population in the western Alps is not just a simple exodus, however; the
development o f tourism has helped to check the drift and there is a small
counter-current o f seasonal workers into the resorts. Furthermore, constructional
projeas and industry are opening up new employment opportunities
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