At the meeting, in Milan and online, the first public appearance of the new president Marco Magnifico. The Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini was present
We are facing a series of emergencies: the post-Covid recovery, climate change; but the Italian emergency is also that of the landscape. Infrastructure for 45 billion will be poured into the territory to be spent in four years, just to mention two chapters of the Recovery and resilience plan: transport and transition to clean energy. There is a risk that disasters will be made without an adequate culture of the landscapetoo often considered a space to be filled, not that intersection between nature and the work of man that has made Italy a collective work of art ». Marco Magnifico is the president of Fai – the Italian Environment Fund – since December, when it took over from Andrea Carandini. Its first public release is on the theme of the landscape in the crucial junction of the PNRR and of the ecological transition, a topic on which the foundation – born in 1975 by Giulia Maria Crespi – held the national conference yesterday. An appointment with architects and international landscape experts, writers, politicians, aimed at the audience of 2,500 active FAI delegates and volunteers (out of a total of almost seven thousand).
On one side of the balance, the billions of the NRP. On the other, the protection of the landscape. Irreconcilable needs? «Italian landscapes – underlines Magnifico – are a masterpiece. Work of art that is certainly not to be museumized and that evolves, even with wind turbines and photovoltaic panels. But we need to understand its value to protect it ». To those who object to the foundation that they are among those who say no to everything, Magnifico replies: «Whoever says only no gets out of history. Of course, some no must be said. It is obvious that offshore wind, offshore in the sea, is to be preferred. In Foggia, the farmers sell the wheat fields to become wind farms, a tragedy for the landscape. Mind you: the blades are important. But you can’t put them in Sardinia around the Romanesque basilica of Saccargia or in Umbria on the hills of Gubbio ».
Nobody would dream of tearing down a Baroque church or a medieval tower. “This is not the case for the landscape’s” enemies “, Magnifico warms up. “The landscape plans, an indispensable basis for proper management, were redefined in 2004 by the Urban Code and only six regions approved them: Sardinia, Puglia, Tuscany, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Piedmont and Lazio, even if the latter has some problems. The Lombard one ran aground; other regions have not made the plan together with the Ministry of Culture
as the law dictates; and therefore it is as if it were not there ».
“A landscape plan is a path that can be easily modified in case of need, not an immutable photograph”, underlines Massimiliano Fedriga, president of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and of the Conference of Regions. “Institutional alliances are fundamental: conflicts between institutions too often result in a blockade ».
2026 is around the corner and many are asking for simplifications to the procedures for giving the go-ahead to the works. “The transition is fundamental but an emergency cannot be healed by creating another disaster,” warns President Fai. «The superintendencies are not ready to face the load of these projects and the ministry has created a special one, with 35 experts: good. However, the push to speed up the authorization process as much as possible is a serious danger. As you do we will watch and protest ». Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, FAI vice president adds: «The landscape is governed, it is not only preserved. Laws are not enough, awareness is needed ».
“When no one talked about it, the constituent fathers, in a far-sighted way, included the landscape among the fundamental principles of the Charter,” recalled the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini. “Landscape protection is not just a constitutional duty, it is an extraordinary economic resource. The beauty of Italy is the first factor that helps investments, growth, our image in the world “. He concludes: “An intelligent balance must be found that allows economic growth and the development of renewable energies but which defends the landscape”.
The concept has changed over time: those who see the landscape as progress; who, on the contrary, as something immutable. And who, finally, thinks it in a decorative way. For Bertrand Folléa, architect and teacher at Versailles, landscape is instead relations: “There is never a separation between nature and culture, sociology and ecology, context and lifestyle. In this sense, the landscape should guide the ecological transition and not vice versa ». Then there is what the French writer and landscape architect Gilles Clément calls the “Third landscape”, or the environment abandoned by man: “Spaces not to be touched”, he stressed yesterday. «They are important even if man does not take care of them, but insects, birds, fungi, microorganisms work there to leave space. The planet is a garden and all living beings are gardeners ».
Finally, for an architect and urban planner like Stefano Boeri, «we must accept the formidable challenge by arriving at create infrastructure with a set of criteria: attention to biodiversity and not to compromise the life of living species. But also with the courage of beauty ».
The complaint. The Mediterranean garden of Scurati: “Beware of excesses of constraints and rules”
Antonio Scurati told about it at the Fai conference: «In Torello, a hamlet of Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, I bought a small piece of land. After thirty years of neglect, the brambles had invaded everything. It was a thrill to see the oranges blossom again ». Happy ending? Not exactly. The writer’s idea was to set up a small Mediterranean garden, with native plants and shrubs. A redevelopment project. “Here, however, is a dark forest of constraints, rules, entities that suffocate the project.” Up to the bitter question: «Does all this protect the landscape? No. If the idea is to crystallize, the results are abandonment, building abuses, landslides ».
February 19, 2022 (change February 19, 2022 | 21:54)
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