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La Val d’Orcia è un eccezionale esempio del ridisegno del paesaggio nel
Rinascimento, che illustra gli ideali di buon governo nei secoli XXIV e XV della
città-stato italiana e la ricerca estetica che ne ha guidato la concezione. La
Val d’Orcia documenta il paesaggio dell’Italia comunale celebrato dai pittori
della scuola senese, che ha profondamente influenzato lo sviluppo del pensiero
paesistico. Iscrizione alla Lista del Patrimonio Mondiale Unesco: 2004
Criteri iscrizione Id. n. 1026rev 2004 C (iv) (vi) (iv) costituire un esempio
straordinario di una tipologia edilizia, di un insieme architettonico o
tecnologico, o di un paesaggio, che illustri una o più importanti fasi nella
storia umana; (vi) essere direttamente o materialmente associati con avvenimenti
o tradizioni viventi, idee o credenze, opere artistiche o letterarie, dotate di
un significato universale eccezionale. (Il Comitato reputa che questo criterio
dovrebbe essere utilizzato in associazione con altri criteri). |
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The landscape of Val d’Orcia is part of the agricultural hinterland of Siena,
redrawn and developed when it was integrated in the territory of the city-state
in the 14th and 15th centuries to reflect an idealized model of good governance
and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture. The landscape’s distinctive
aesthetics, flat chalk plains out of which rise almost conical hills with
fortified settlements on top, inspired many artists. Their images have come to
exemplify the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes. The
inscription covers: an agrarian and pastoral landscape reflecting innovative
land-management systems; towns and villages; farmhouses; and the Roman Via
Francigena and its associated abbeys, inns, shrines, bridges, etc.
Criterion (iv): The Val d’Orcia is an exceptional reflection of the way the
landscape was re-written in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good
governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing pictures. Criterion (vi): The
landscape of the Val d’Orcia was celebrated by painters from the Siennese
School, which flourished during the Renaissance. Images of the Val d’Orcia, and
particularly depictions of landscapes where people are depicted as living in
harmony with nature, have come to be seen as icons of the Renaissance and have
profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
The Val d'Orcia bears testimony from archaeological remains to prehistoric
settlement, to an important role during the Etruscan period and to further
development during the Roman Empire. The area seems to have been largely
abandoned agriculturally in the Middle Ages. A revival in the economy and a
certain stability in the 10th and 11th centuries led to the establishment of
monasteries, greater use of the Via Francigena and the development of villages
under a feudal system. Sienna's dramatic growth as a trading state in the 13th
and 14th centuries, led it to expand its agricultural base outwards from the
periphery of Sienna. The Val d'Orcia was colonised together with other outlying
areas such as the Maremma along the coast. The wealth of Siennese merchants was
invested in turning the landscape into productive farmland within an innovative
land tenure framework. So far from being at the edge of the state, the valley
became a focus for display. Merchants supported the development of settlements,
built palaces and churches and commissioned paintings that depicted the life of
ordinary people in the landscape. Sienna's rivalry with Florence, the seat of
aristocratic power, lasted for more than two centuries. The weakening of Sienna
at the end of the 16th century was followed by a Florentine victory after which
the Val d'Orcia gradually declined in economic importance and the Via Francigena
became a secondary route for local traffic. The comparative poverty and
marginalisation of the area over the following four centuries has had the effect
of sustaining traditional land-use patterns and structures. In the 1960s the new
laws on land management in Italy which translated tenancies into contracts, and
which have led to the abandonment of land in many regions, seem to have had less
effect in the Val d'Orcia. In the past thirty-five years or so the farmland has
undergone some improvements such as an extension of the cultivated land and
better control mechanisms for water management. A few areas of intensive change
have been put into the buffer zone. In 1999 the area was protected as an
Artistic, Natural and Cultural Park. This was the initiative of the five
municipalities who established a common management body, which was then
integrated within the provincial administration. Source: Advisory Body
Evaluation |
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