Heritage and carob trees: Where the monumental and landscape intersect

Gianni Petino; Gaetano Chinnici; Donatella Privitera; Gianni Petino; Gaetano Chinnici; Donatella Privitera

doi:10.3934/geosci.2024032

AIMS Geosciences

2024, Volume 10, Issue 3: 623-640. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2024032

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Heritage and carob trees: Where the monumental and landscape intersect

1.
Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Catania, via Vittorio Emanuele II 49, 95131 Catania, Italy; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo - sez. di Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
2.
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 98-100, 95123 Catania, Italy
3.
Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, via Biblioteca 4, 95124 Catania, Italy

Received: 03 April 2024 Revised: 01 July 2024 Accepted: 18 July 2024 Published: 27 August 2024

We aimed to explore the significance of monumental trees as elements of heritage and their role in interpreting landscapes. Monumental carob trees, characterized by their impressive size and long lifespan, serve as valuable sources of information for understanding the territories they inhabit and the human societies that have preserved them over time. Over the centuries, these carob trees narrate the tale of Mediterranean landscapes, akin to stone monuments, making them authentic natural and cultural treasures of the Mediterranean region. Our findings, based on fields observations in Sicily (Italy) and GIS analysis, suggested that the landscape is an enabling medium through which traditional culture is preserved, local identities are transferred, and rural heritage is acknowledged. We unfold a conception of landscape based on visual, inherited traditional agricultural practices, valued rural heritage, and territorial identity.
- heritage trees,
- GIS,
- Italy,
- visual landscape
Citation: Gianni Petino, Gaetano Chinnici, Donatella Privitera. Heritage and carob trees: Where the monumental and landscape intersect[J]. AIMS Geosciences, 2024, 10(3): 623-640. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2024032

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Abstract

We aimed to explore the significance of monumental trees as elements of heritage and their role in interpreting landscapes. Monumental carob trees, characterized by their impressive size and long lifespan, serve as valuable sources of information for understanding the territories they inhabit and the human societies that have preserved them over time. Over the centuries, these carob trees narrate the tale of Mediterranean landscapes, akin to stone monuments, making them authentic natural and cultural treasures of the Mediterranean region. Our findings, based on fields observations in Sicily (Italy) and GIS analysis, suggested that the landscape is an enabling medium through which traditional culture is preserved, local identities are transferred, and rural heritage is acknowledged. We unfold a conception of landscape based on visual, inherited traditional agricultural practices, valued rural heritage, and territorial identity.

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