Cultural landscape and living heritage in the Vineyard Landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

This research investigates how the concepts of ‘heritage’, ‘landscape’ and ‘participation’ are articulated within legal documents and policies which manage heritage (in particular the World Heritage Convention and the European Landscape Convention) and by laypersons. The purpose is to explore the semantic differences existing between these two categories and to understand the implications for the development of participative heritage preservation and management policies within cultural landscapes. I argue that power relationships between the categories of ‘experts’ and ‘non-experts’ produce different articulations of heritage values and meanings, and consequently generate disengagement in the identification, definition and preservation of a heritage site. This discussion is developed through the analysis of an Italian case study, the UNESCO World Heritage vineyard landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, inscribed in the World Heritage List as a ‘cultural landscape’ since 2014. The data collection and generation have been divided into two main focuses: preliminary documentary research combined with interviews with different typologies of stakeholders (heritage professionals, local people and women wine producers). I suggest that the development of participatory methodologies based on consultation and negotiation could generate a more inclusive identification of heritage values and meanings, attentive to different ways of articulating, preserving and managing landscape. This does not mean resolving all the conflicts or achieving a general consensus, but rather providing people with capacity building tools and skills, in order to facilitate the articulation of heritage values and also to rethink - and maybe redefine - heritage markers. To conclude, I argue that the lack, or presence, of stories in the landscape has important cultural, political, social and economic consequences in the present and that the links between these factors have to be revealed in order to develop more inclusive practices.