Conflicts and visions in the woods of Diana : cultural landscape management in Ariccia, Italy.

Abstract: This research is an investigation in landscape policies to counter cultural landscape degradation in the Castelli Romani, a region of central Italy change. In the municipality of Ariccia, well-known in the region for its policies for sustainability, two contemporaneous projects aim to restore a degraded landscape long associated with historical, natural, and cultural meaning. The first, initiated by the municipality, seeks to recreate a wetland in the crater of Vallericcia as a response to hydrogeological instability. The second project, initiated by a citizen movement, succeeded in rescuing a historical park on the top of a hill overlooking Vallericcia from privatisation and is currently planning its management for public use. This research, with the European Landscape Convention as its guiding principle, is an investigation in the local dimensions of landscape management and planning, the different perceptions of landscape among local stakeholders and authorities and the driving forces behind the decisions. In the context of the many debates on landscape in Italy, this case study will show that participation is an important level of landscape governance and that planning must take into account the views and knowledge of the local communities.