Teachings and Professors

Many researches in the last decades highlighted that landscape quality affects people’s wellbeing. It has been seen that the quality of the landscape interacts with numerous physiological parameters of an individual and that more pleasant landscapes tend to improve overall personal health. Many human activities are directly influenced by the landscape preferences. In the case of tourism and recreational activities, landscape can be considered one of the most important pull factors. The quality of landscape is also able to influence the real estate market and in some cases the market of food products. From an economic point of view, the rural landscape has three important features: a) it is a pure public good; b) it is an externality (positive or negative) of farming and other economic activities that exploit and modify the territory; c) it is a merit good. For this kind of good, the spontaneous activities of economic agents lead to an inefficient land use arrangement. Only the government intervention can correct these market failures. To efficiently implement landscape policies it is necessary to evaluate the benefits from public intervention. The aim of the course is to present the main landscape valuation approaches that can classified as follows: a) Non-monetary (based on expert judgement or on the judgement of the population) b) Monetary (supply based and demand based). Moreover some methodological approaches useful to analyse the relationship between tourist demand, food demand and landscape features will be presented.

Objectives: Acquiring the foundations for an economic, environmental and socially sustainable valorization of a GIAHS site.

This module will be based on the analysis and evaluation of the background and the identity of a GIAHS, in order to define the vision for its most competitive and sustainable future development. Students will become confident in using tools for: a) analyzing historical, cultural, environmental resources of the territory and its stakeholders; b) developing a strategic local thinking in order to integrate the resources; c) preparing a valorisation plan for the GIAHS.

Knowledge of frameworks and tools of analysis, valorisation and management of biocultural resources will be acquired in this module.

Synthetic Program:

1. Territorial Capital: concept; identification of biocultural resources: the importance of participatory methodologies; governance and sustainability

2. The role of typical products: concept; protection tools; valorization strategies

3. Rural tourism for a sustainable valorization of biocultural resources: dynamics; experiential tourism; case studies from Italian and international projects

4. The role of a territorial enhancer: role, competencies, training opportunities

Teaching methods: Class sessions will feature lectures, seminars, case study analysis, group discussion. Online resources such as presentations and readings will be available.

Readings: Berti G. (2011), Weaving the Rural Web: The dynamics of rural development in Lunigiana, Laboratorio di Studi Rurali Sismondi, ISSN 2039-2532 https://sismondi.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/qs12_rural_web_lunigiana_berti.pdf

Vandecandelaere et alii (2009), Linking people, places and products, FAO/SINERGI Rome www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/olq/documents/guide/guide.pdf

Elena Bresci – University of Florence – elena.bresci@unifi.it

Federico Preti – University of Florence – federico.preti@unifi.it

The course is organized with lectures and plenary discussions on topics related to soil and water conservation interventions.

Objectives: The course aims to provide the students with fundamental concepts about physical erosion processes affecting hillslopes and the management of the drainage network of watersheds, and the techniques for soil conservation and the management of soil moisture. The course will include the basic concepts of water harvesting, considering also local traditional technologies, aimed to support water conservation and food security in rural areas.

Extended program: Application of bioengineering techniques for watershed management. Soil slope stabilization and erosion control by means of traditional and innovative soil and water bioengineering solutions. Control of hydrogeological risk in terraced slopes. Introduction to water harvesting and water conservation in arid areas. Concepts and examples of traditional and innovative soil and water conservation systems and sustainable land management approaches.

Reference texts: Donald H. Gray, Robbin B. Sotir: Biotechnical and Soil Bioengineering slope stabilization: a practical guide for control, 1996, John Wiley and sons inc.; FAO, Water harvesting (AGL/MISC/17/91), 1991; WOCAT, 2017,  ‘where the land is greener – case studies and analysis of soil and water conservation initiatives worldwide’ https://www.wocat.net/library/media/27/

Exam: Written examination on the topics addressed during classes.

The specific objectives consist of providing students with a basic knowledge (theory and practical) on traditional building materials (stone, straw, raw earth, ecc.). At the end of the course, students will be able to identify places of particular interest where to transfer their knowledge on construction techniques with traditional building materials.

Minimum knowledges required concern sustainable building materials, in order to understand the effective potentialities of traditional materials such as natural stone, straw and raw earth.

Students will be able to refine their knowledge on the use of traditional buildings materials. They may suggest to use sustainable building materials both according to traditional techniques and also by applying them through contemporary construction techniques.

The course will offer the participants the possibility to understand the most important features of traditional building materials. The course, step by step, will analyse the technical properties and construction methods of each material. Particular attention will be dedicated to stone, bale and raw earth.

A particular focus will be made on the use of natural stone in terraced systems. In this case, the main technical construction parameters of the dry stone walls will be analysed. This analysis will allow to evaluate the state of conservation of dry stone walls in order to suggest operation for safeguarding and protection. The students will develop skills on the study of the agricultural terraced systems by participating in technical visits in some study areas of Tuscany Region.

The following phase about the study of straw and raw earth will allow to understand the use of them such as building materials. Both materials will be characterized in terms of mechanical and physical properties and will also illustrate the main construction methods. The students will visit a case study in Tuscany based on the use of natural materials with low environmental and economic impact.

Lectures: 12 h. Laboratory/practice: 6 h

Teaching

Teaching

Tessa Matteini – University of Florence – tessa.matteini@unifi.it

David Fanfani – University of Florence –david.fanfani@unifi.it

Teaching goals: The course is aimed to provide cultural and operational tools and methods to analyse, decipher and design landscapes, according with a complex and cross disciplinary approach. More specifically, the course highlights the value of long-lasting territorial structures (referring both to cultural and agro-eco systemic aspects) as key reference for the regeneration of cultural landscapes, adopting a strategic and integrated point of view. Moreover the course proposes a range of case studies on active/inventive conservation of layered landscapes.

Teaching methods and course contents: Starting from this premises, the course draws on two complementary teaching activities. In detail:

1. Frontal teachingwill provide: Theory and methodology for the co-evolutionary framing  of landscapes and of their long-lasting structures.

2. Practical planning and design activitiesaimed to cultural landscapes enhancement  through different intervention scales.

Such practical issues of landscape analysis and project exploration will be referred to a specific landscape study case and also developed through field visits and discussion among teachers and students.

The first part of the course will be focused on:  activity of United Nations on the environment and the effects on planning and management of the rural territory. Conservation of world heritage sites (UNESCO) and FAO sites of the world rural heritage (GIAHS). European Landscape Convention. Joint program on biocultural diversity of CBD and UNESCO.  EU directives on nature conservation and rural development. Activities of Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forest in Europe on cultural values. Planning in Italy: the case of Tuscany. Agricultural heritage systems in Rural Development Plans: strategies and actions. Landscape observatories: the national observatory for rural landscape. Landscape impact assessment in rural areas: the case of wind towers.

Reading material: Agnoletti M., Ed., The Conservation of Cultural Landscapes, CAB International, New York; / Agnoletti., M., 2009, Euroepan agricultural policies and landscape: effects, strategies and perspectives, in: Landscape in planning polices and governance: towards integrated spatial management, Proceedings of the seventh meeting  of the workshops of the Council of Europe for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, Piestany Slovak Republic, 24-25- April, 2008, Strasbourg, Council of Europe Publishing, 41-60; / Agnoletti M., 2005, Landscape changes, biodiversity and hydrogeological risk in the area of  Cardoso between 1832 and 2002 (Regional Park of the Apuane Alps), Regione Toscana, Tipografia Regionale, Firenze; / Agnoletti M., 2006, Traditional Knowledge and the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): the case of the Italian National Rural Development Plan 2007-2013. In:  Agnoletti M., Parrotta J., Johann E., 2006, editors, Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Forest Management: the role of traditional knowledge, IUFRO -MCPFE, Warsaw, vol 1. 19-27; / Agnoletti M., 2014, Rural landscape, nature conservation and culture: Some notes on research trends and management approaches from a (southern)European perspective, Landscape and Urban Planning.  126 (2014) 66-73.

Teaching will be based on a mixture of lectures, student discussions, student debates and other activities. In addition, you will be asked to prepare and conduct a 10 min. research presentation for the class. The topic will be discussed with the instructor in advance.

Antonio Santoro – University of Florence – antonio.santoro@unifi.it

Francesco Piras – University of Florence – francesco.piras@unifi.it

The course will be divided in two parts. The first part will focus on the presentation of different GIAHS sites, including the main chatacteristics regarding food systems, agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural organization and landscape system. Different proposals will be analyzed in order to highlight how a good proposal should be made and what information should include.

The second part will fosus on the practical use of GIS software for the identification and delimitation of a potential GIAHS site, and for the realization of detailed land use maps.

Traditional Knowledge (TK) consists of practical (instrumental) and normative knowledge concerning the ecological, socio-economic and cultural environment. As a dynamic expression of perceiving and understanding the world, it can give, and historically has given, a valuable contribution to science and technology, and more in general to the development of Human civilization.

This module aims to show how TKs systems can be used as a strategic tool for supporting the sustainable development of the territory.

After a short introduction about TKs Systems and their main characteristic features, examples will be given about TKs in the Agro-forestry chains. Particular attention will be paid to the pedagogical aspect of the “knowledge potential” and on its implication to personal and collective identity. The strategy of transition from Product design to System product design will be also introduced, applying the “community map” approach for establishing socio-cultural and economical priorities for community development, mainly oriented to increase the resilience in the development of local communities.

The module will be organized in frontal lectures, sites visits and practical activities.

Compositional analysis of food: Moisture and Water activity; Crude fat analysis; Carbohydrate analysis; Protein analysis. Markers of genuine milk and cheese composition, milk thermal treatments by means of enzyme indicators (alkaline phosphatase and lactoperoxidase). Maillard reaction. Vegetable oil composition: triglycerides, fatty acids, minor polar fraction. Chemical physical characteristics of natural fatty acids: determination of fatty acid in 2-monoglicerides. Assessment of conformity to botanical origin. UV-VIS assay. Markers of virgin olive oil Markers of oxidation.

Food Technology: definitions, synoptic table of processes and unit operations in the food industry. Food Quality: ISO standard definition, customer expectations, food product specifications and quality profile. Food process analysis: conceptual steps, application to extra virgin olive oil case study.

The Sensory Evaluation Laboratory–environment. The subjects: recruitment, selection and training; Scaling procedures. Sensory test classification. Difference tests:  paired difference test, triangular test, duo-trio, ranking test. Descriptive methods: Descriptive Analysis, CATA, Similarity methods: Sorting and Projective mapping.  Hedonic tests: acceptability and preference tests.

Exam modality: The exam verifies the acquisition of the knowledges needed to correctly design and conduct analytic method, sensory test and food process analysis. Specifically, the students are required to: (i) correctly describe the main markers of food characteristics mainly in relation to regulation; (ii) correctly describe the classification of sensory tests; (iii) correctly describe the classification of food products-food processing-raw materials. The acquired skills are tested by: (i) verifying the capability of correctly selecting an analytical method or a sensory test in relation to a specific task, the capability of correctly of designing the most common sensory tests; (ii) verifying quality profile, flow sheet, plant/equipment and quality control of extra virgin olive oil processing.

The course is organized with lectures and plenary discussions on topics related to agro-biodiversity preservation and enhancement as connected with communities developed in rural areas.

Aim: The aim of the course is to provide students with basic knowledge about the relationship between agricultural biodiversity and the development of rural communities. The course will explore the meaning of biodiversity in an agricultural context, the relationship with ecosystem services and the most relevant techniques for the development of dynamic conservation models with strong links to the territory.

The roles of rural communities in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity and the preservation of community sovereignty through the recovery and exchange of seeds of indigenous varieties will then be highlighted. The community will then be analyzed in terms of the development of sustainable agricultural models, linked to the conservation of soil fertility and the multifunctionality of the territorial production system. Finally, models for the cultural and economic promotion of agrobiodiversity in rural communities will be analyzed.

Texts suggested: Bioversity International (2017). Mainstreaming agrobiodiversity in sustainable food systems: Scientific foundations for an agrobiodiversity index. Rome (Italy): Bioversity International, 180 p. ISBN: 978-92-9255-070-7; Corrado C., Elena T., Giancarlo R., Stefano C. (2019) The Genetic Diversity in Horticultural Plants. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96454-6_9