ABSTRACT
Ligurian chestnut landscapes have recently been acknowledged as cultural landscapes of importance as part of the European rural heritage (Krzywinski, O’Connell and Küster 2009) and identified and recognized as of importance in the recent catalog of Italian historical rural landscapes (Moreno 2010). In this chapter, we explore the interconnections between heritage, culture and climate by considering evidence for changes in the extent and use of the chestnut in Liguria. Studies undertaken over the last 20 years in the Ligurian Apennines have explored the historical ecology of different land use systems making use of a wide variety of documentary sources, map evidence, and pollen analysis at a local scale. We focus on changes in chestnut culture, which is increasingly valued as part of Ligurian heritage, and the way local systems and associated practices have varied during historical periods facing variations in climate. Links between climate change and chestnut cultivation are difficult to discern, and changes in the extent and form of chestnut woodland can only be understood in the local context.
