In common phraseology, the terms landscape and panorama are generally considered synonymous and as such used reciprocally to indicate both the expression of the characteristics that together give the perception of the meaning of a territory, and a scene, that is, a representation, of the same territory provided that it has significant aesthetic value. A dualism, also and above all cultural, of such magnitude as to influence the historical evolution of the concept of landscape itself with significant repercussions in the definition of the criteria for planning and management of the territory, as well as in the vision that the common citizen has of the territory. In a dialogue between the reader and the author, the reasons and effects of this terminological confusion are retraced, which comes to assume a specific socio-cultural dimension and to become co-responsible for the progressive loss of discernment of man with respect to the changes that today he imposes on the territory in which he lives.
Landscapes cannot be conceived and managed like buildings and gardens. They are the result of changing dynamics in which environmental, social and economic factors interact and men are at the same time the actors and spectators that Eugenio Turri spoke to us about. It is to gold that Frederick Bradley turns his scientific and professional attention with the Guides to the Landscape of Italy and with theoretical contributions such as the latter, which continues a more articulated popular thought on the profound meaning of landscape. This is an essential direction of work because our gaze to the near future tends to the diffusion and rooting of a different culture, aware and determined in conceiving the landscape as a foundation of its origin, its contemporaneity and its destiny. The landscape project is practicable with concreteness and effectiveness if adequate conditions are provided: among these, a social awareness of the landscape based on a congruent knowledge of it cannot be missing.
Prof. Gabriele Paolinelli – Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florence
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