Valore storico, culturale e paesaggistico delle “muracche” nel Bosco Ficuzza

Il vasto complesso forestale indicato come Bosco della Ficuzza ebbe origine quando Ferdinando IV di Borbone, costretto dagli avvenimenti tumultuosi del 1798 a fuggire da Napoli si trasferì in Sicilia. Essendo un grande appassionato di caccia, il sovrano fece costituire diverse tenute di caccia; così sorsero le tenute reali della Favorita a Palermo e quella di Ficuzza. Il Re migliorò la viabilità per giungere a Ficuzza, e poi quella interna al bosco. Nel 1802 diede l’incarico prima all’architetto palermitano Venazio Marvuglia e poi all’architetto Carlo Chenchi di edificare la Real Casina di Caccia, dove dimorò per lunghi anni, praticando, tra tutti i suoi preferiti svaghi, la caccia e la pesca. A Ficuzza, Ferdinando IV si adoperò a costituire una delle sue più grandi riserve di caccia. Così vennero riuniti i feudi di Lupo, Ficuzza e Cappelliere, costituiti i confini con “muracche” (muraglie in pietra) e pilieri recanti la scritta “R.R.“, Reali Riserve, impose norme restrittive alla libera caccia. Altresì, il re dotò il bosco di una ben distribuita rete viaria e si adoperò alla cura dei boschi, al ripopolamento della selvaggina, facendo arrivare da fuori cinghiali, daini e cervi. Inoltre, fece costruire in vari posti del bosco rifugi per i guardiacaccia, masserie e ricoveri per gli armenti, avendo costituito grossi allevamenti di bovini e ovini, abbeveratoi e altre “infrastrutture” al servizio della caccia come il “pulpito del re”, ricavato in un grosso masso di arenaria dove il re si appostava per sparare a lepri, cinghiali e daini che i battitori stanavano. Altra struttura degna di menzione è la “pescheria del Gorgo del Drago”, uno stagno alimentato da una sorgente perenne dove il re, durante il riposo venatorio per il ripopolamento della selvaggina, si dilettava a pescare, ospite nella adiacente casa, oggi ridotta ad un rudere. Le muracche erano state costruite con massi di varia dimensione accatastati in modo da formare dei parallelepipedi di larghezza di circa 1 m, e alte fino a 2 m, a formare estese muraglie lungo i confini delle tenute di caccia reali. Una sorta di recinzioni che servivano a proteggere le aree destinate al ripopolamento della selvaggina ma anche i boschi, tanto cari al re, soggetti agli interventi selvicolturali. Infatti, il re al suo primo sopralluogo a Ficuzza, scrisse nel suo diario di bordo “... i boschi sono ampi e ricchi di selvaggina, ma mal tenuti e troppo sfruttati”. Ecco perché, appena stabilitosi a Ficuzza, il Re iniziò ad adoperarsi per ricostituire i boschi degradati e troppo sfruttati, proteggendoli dal pascolo e da ogni pericolo con le muracche. Lungo le muracche erano presenti dei passaggi delimitati da cancelli, usati per il transito dei boscaioli e della selvaggina. Nei vertici delle muracche erano presenti i pilieri in pietra che, oltre alla scritta “R.R.”, riportavano sopra quest’ultima il simbolo della corona reale. L’opera meritoria di Ferdinando IV di Borbone è stata decisiva nella destinazione della “Foresta nazionale inalienabile di Ficuzza” come “Stazione climatica” ai sensi della Legge n. 535 del 1901 del Regno d’Italia. Delle muracche originarie oggi sono rimaste solo le vestigia coperte da muschi e intrigate nella vegetazione. L’Ente gestore della Riserva ha ripristinato solo una piccola parte degli antichi manufatti a scopo dimostrativo della originaria forma strutturale. L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è stato quello di realizzare un inventario dell’attuale consistenza e stato di manutenzione delle muracche e di tutte le altre infrastrutture ancora esistenti al fine di ricostruire il loro originale sviluppo all’interno della foresta. Tale inventario, oltre ad essere importante dal punto di vista storico, culturale e paesaggistico, può contribuire alla ricostruzione storica della gestione forestale dei boschi di Ficuzza e, al tempo stesso, può avere un ruolo chiave nella definizione del particellare ai fini della redazione del piano di gestione forestale della riserva. Può inoltre essere la base per avviare un serio progetto di recupero di questo patrimonio indissolubilmente legato alla storia umana e naturale di Ficuzza.The vast wooded area known as “Bosco Ficuzza” originated when Ferdinando IV Borbone, forced by the tumultuous events in 1798 to escape from Naples, moved to Sicily. The King, being a great hunting enthusiast, established several hunting estates; thus the royal estates of the Favorita in Palermo and that of Ficuzza rose. The King improved the viability to reach Ficuzza, and then those inside the forest. In 1802 he was commissioned to the venetian architect Venazio Marvuglia and then to the architect Carlo Chenchi to build the “Real Casina di Caccia”, where he lived for many years, practicing, among all his favorite leisure activities, hunting and fishing. In Ficuzza, Ferdinando IV worked to constitute one of his largest hunting reserves. Thus the fiefs of Lupo, Ficuzza and Cappelliere were reunited, the boundaries constituted with “muracche”" (stone walls) and “pilieri” (stone stacks) bearing the inscription "R.R.", Reali Riserve (i.e. Royal Reserves), and he imposed restrictive rules to free hunting. Also, the King endowed the forest with a well-distributed road network and he worked to the care of the woods, to repopulate the game species, by bringing out wild boar, fallow deer and deer. Moreover, in various places of the forest, he had it built shelters for the keepers, farms and shelters for livestock, having formed large cattle and sheep farms, drinking troughs and other infrastructures at the service of hunting such as the "The King's pulpit", obtained from a large sandstone boulder where the King used to shoot hares, wild boars and fallow deer that the beaters used to drive out. Another structure worthy of mention is the “fishmonger of the Gorgo del Drago”, a pond fed by a perennial spring where the King, during the hunting rest for the repopulation of the game species, was delighted to fish, guest in the adjacent house, today reduced to a ruin. The muracche had been built with boulders of various dimensions stacked so as to form parallelepipeds with a width of about 1 m, and up to 2 m tall, to form extensive walls along the boundaries of royal hunting estates. They were a kind of fences that served to protect the areas destined to the repopulation of the game species but also the woods, so dear to the King, subjected to silvicultural interventions. In fact, the King at his first visit to Ficuzza, wrote in his logbook “... the woods are wide and rich in game species, but poorly managed and too much exploited”. This is why, as soon as he settled in Ficuzza, the King began to work to recover the degraded and over-exploited forests, protecting them from grazing and from any other danger with the muracche. Along the muracche there were passages delimited by gates, used for the transit of woodcutters and game species. At the top of the muracche there were stone stacks which, in addition to the inscription “R.R.”, had the symbol of the royal crown above it. The meritorious work of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon was decisive in the destination of the "Inalienable National Forest of Ficuzza" as "Climate Station" in accordance with the Law n. 535 of 1901 of the Kingdom of Italy. Of the original muracche today there are only the remains covered by mosses and intrigued in the vegetation. The managing body of the Reserve has restored only a small part of the ancient artifacts for demonstration purposes of the original structural form. The objective of this work is to create an inventory of the current consistency and state of maintenance of the muracche and of all the other infrastructures still existing in order to reconstruct their original development within the forest. This inventory, in addition to being important from an historical, cultural and landscape point of view, can contribute to the historical reconstruction of the forest management of the Ficuzza woods and, at the same time, can play a key role in defining particles for the purposes of drawing up the forest management plan of the reserve. It can also be the basis for starting a serious project to recover this heritage inextricably linked to the human and natural history of Ficuzza

Digital Parliamentary Data in Action (DiPaDA 2022): Introduction

Peer reviewe

Digital Parliamentary Data in Action (DiPaDA 2022): Introduction

Peer reviewe

The politics of property in a European periphery : the ownership of books, berries, and patents in the Grand Duchy of Finland 1850-1910

Defence date: 7 November 2016Examining Board: Professor Youssef Cassis, EUI (Supervisor); Professor Pauli Kettunen, University of Helsinki (External Supervisor); Professor Luca Molà, EUI; Professor Lionel Bently, University of CambridgeIn the late nineteenth century, the Grand Duchy of Finland benefited from its backward position in the peripheral corner of Europe; its export markets expanded, career opportunities were sought abroad, and foreign ideas and technology were translated and appropriated. At the same time, the identity of the young nation state as a part of the Russian Empire was being put together by its educated elite, whose national projects would react to foreign developments and amalgamate with the expertise acquired abroad. This included the reconciliation of private, collective and state interests over natural resources and intangible ideas. This thesis explores and adds to the scattered knowledge of four areas of intangible and material ownership in the country: inventions and literary works, trees and wild berries (allemansrätt, public access to nature). The thesis aims to understand how ownership, in general, became defined and how these specific property rights were produced as part of the peripheral dynamics in the Grand Duchy. The study analyses the political processes around the key legislative reforms in which the existing structures of ownership became challenged and reshaped. The thesis argues that the peripheral perception related to the economic and intellectual context was central to conceptualising "property". It allowed comparative reflection and learning from abroad, but the spatio-temporal relation served also to frame and guide the property reforms according to the interests of the political factions, for instance, by emphasising the particular or universal aspects of the reform. In general, a pragmatic, liberal line of thinking which favoured domestic interests permeated the reforms. The rhetoric of the sanctity of private property was commonly used, but in a way that incorporated the interests of the public; differences in the concept of property pertained especially to the role of the public and the way in which the common interest was seen to manifest itself

Ujghuren im chinesisch-kasachstanischen Grenzgebiet: Wirtschaftlicher Wandel und seine Auswirkungen

Die Ujghuren sind in den letzten Monaten durch Beijings Unterdrückung seiner muslimischen Bevölkerung in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit gerückt. Doch leben auch in Kasachstan (und Kirgistan) viele Angehörige dieser Ethnie. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden Traditionen und Lebensweisen der nahe der chinesischen Grenze lebenden kasachstanischen Ujghuren wie auch ihre ökonomische Situation, ihre Anpassung an die Öffnung der Grenze zu China nach dem Zerfall der Sowjetunion, beschrieben

Suklaan suojassa, tilinteossa tekstiilitehtaalla : tutkimus Helsingin ja Lyonin venäläisistä yhteisöistä 1920-luvulla

Venäjältä oli muuttanut siirtolaisia Euroopan pääkaupunkeihin 1800-luvun lopulta alkaen. Ensimmäinen maailmansota, Venäjän vallankumoukset ja sisällissota muokkasivat Euroopan venäläisyhteisöjen rakennetta, kun sadattuhannet ihmiset pakenivat maasta. M. Raeffin mukaan vallankumouspakolaisuuden myötä syntyi 'Venäjä rajojensa ulkopuolella', joka ilmeni venäläisen intellektuellin ja kulttuurisen elämän sekä niiden pohjana olleiden instituutioiden kautta. Tässä tutkimuksessa argumentoidaan, C. Gousseffiin ja V. M. Selunskaiaan nojaten, että 'Venäjä rajojensa ulkopuolella' oli yksi pakolaisten (tai emigranttien) tulkinta nykyisyydestään. R. Koselleckin kokemusten ja odotusten käsiteparia soveltaen voi Venäjän keisarikunnan romahduksen nähdä johtaneen tilanteeseen, jossa venäläisten maailman mennyt – kokemukset – eivät enää olleet suorassa yhteydessä maailman tulevaan – odotuksiin. Tämän murroksen yksi tulkintatapa oli selitys 'toisen Venäjän' olemassaolosta. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan Helsingin ja Lyonin venäläisiä yhteisöjä, niiden sosiaalista ja taloudellista rakennetta 1920-luvulla. Näin pyritään kuvaamaan niitä reunaehtoja, jotka määrittivät venäläisten käsitystä muuttuneesta nykyisyydestään. Tarkemmin yhteisöihin perehdytään kahden tehtaan työntekijäkorttien kautta; työntekijäkortit muodostavat tutkimuksen tärkeimmän lähteen. Tehtaiksi on valittu Fazerin makeistehdas sekä tekstiilitehdas Manufactures de Velours et Peluche. Tutkimustapa noudattaa ranskalaisen O. Le Guillou’n Pariisin esikaupungin Renault’n tehtaan venäläisistä tekemää tutkimusta, jossa yhteisön rakennetta tarkastellaan työntekijäkorteista muodostetun kvantitatiivisen aineiston avulla. Tutkielma jakautuu kolmeen osaan: ihmiset, kaupungit ja työ. Ensimmäisessä osassa tarkastellaan venäläisten työntekijäyhteisöjen rakennetta: työntekijämääriä, ikä- ja perherakennetta. Toiseksi tutkitaan mistä venäläiset olivat lähtöisin ja mihin he kohdekaupungissa päätyivät asumaan. Viimeisessä osassa käsitellään venäläisten suhdetta työhön sekä työnantajiin ja arvioidaan heidän asemaansa kuluttajina sekä osana työhierarkiaa. Johtopäätöksenä todetaan, että Manufactures’in ja Fazerin – Lyonin ja Helsingin – venäläiset yhteisöt erosivat merkittävästi toisistaan. Fazerin yhteisö oli muodoltaan perhe- ja sukukeskeinen sekä kohtuullisen varakas. Työsuhteet tehtaalla olivat pitkäkestoisia. Taloudelliset tekijät eivät kuitenkaan näytä toimineen kannustimena pitkiin työsuhteisiin, vaan pysyvyyteen vaikuttivat pikemminkin tehtaan venäläismielisyys, emigranttipiirit ja ympäröivän yhteiskunnan vihamielisyys. Lyonin tekstiilitehtaan yhteisö muodostui pääosin samasta 23–32-vuotiaiden miespolvesta, työsuhteet olivat lyhyitä ja asuinpaikat sijaitsivat Lyonin itäisillä teollisuusalueilla. Lyonin venäläisille tekstiilitehdas oli yksi etappi Ranskan työtaipaleella. Reunaehdot, jotka määrittivät kokemuksia ja odotuksia Lyonissa ja Helsingissä erosivat toisistaan niin paljon, että myös tulkinnat nykyisyydestä olivat erilaisia. Selunskaian ajatusten mukainen emigraation käsitteiden ja käsiterakenteiden toimijakohtainen tarkastelu on hedelmällinen ratkaisu tutkimuskentällä tulevaisuudessa

Tekniikan Waiheiden artikkelipalkinto Petri Pajulle

The Society for the History of Technology awarded the prize for the best article published in Tekniikan Waiheita in 2021-2022 at its autumn meeting at the Tekniikan Museum on 11 December. The winner of the award docent Petri Paju was awarded the prize for his article "Atomic priesthood, nuclear semiotics and Finland. In the margins of thinking about the future of nuclear waste management." (Tekniikan Waiheita 2/2022). The article discusses the Finnish debate on the final disposal of nuclear waste and how to warn future generations about nuclear waste.Tekniikan Historian Seura jakoi syyskokouksessaan Tekniikan Museolla 11. joulukuuta palkinnon parhaasta Tekniikan Waiheissa vuosina 2021-2022 julkaistusta artikkelista. Palkinnon voitti dos. Petri Paju artikkelillaan "Atomipapisto, ydinjätevaaran semiotiikka ja Suomi. Ydinjätehuollon tulevaisuusajattelun reunoilla." (Tekniikan Waiheita 2/2022). Artikkeli käsittelee suomalaista keskustelua ydinjätteiden loppusijoituksesta ja siitä, kuinka ydinjätteistä voidaan varoittaa tulevaisuuden ihmistä

I RIMBOSCHIMENTI DI CEDRO DELL’ATLANTE [Cedrus atlantica (ENDL.) MANETTI EX CARRIÈRE] IN SICILIA

Il cedro dell’Atlante [Cedrus atlantica (ENDL.) MANETTI EX CARRIÈRE], introdotto in Europa come pianta ornamentale, ha trovato largo impiego nei rimboschimenti in Francia, Spagna e Portogallo, mentre in Italia la sua diffusione è stata più recente e a oggi interessa oltre 2600 ettari, dimostrando ottime potenzialità, senza comportamenti invasivi. In Sicilia, benché poco diffusa, la specie sembra avere potenzialità di adattamento e di produzione interessanti. Il presente lavoro prende in considerazione 7 popolamenti di cedro dell'Atlante dislocati in ambiti diversi rappresentativi delle condizioni ambientali locali, compatibili con le esigenze ecologiche della specie, tra questi un rimboschimento sottoposto a interventi di diradamento. Sono state esaminate le caratteristiche dendro-auxometriche dei popolamenti al fine di valutarne le potenzialità produttive. I risultati mostrano che i popolamenti in esame hanno ottima capacità di affermazione, seguono gli sviluppi tipici della specie e hanno possibilità di produzione elevate, pari a quelle riscontrate in letteratura per le piantagioni realizzate in Francia. Inoltre si nota l'interessante ruolo paesaggistico, sia pur considerandone la natura alloctona, che questi popolamenti possono svolgere in ambiti di non facile colonizzazione per specie arboree. Infine si suggeriscono alcuni indirizzi di gestione volti ad assicurarne la migliore affermazione e la possibilità di rinnovazione, sia pur su scala locale. Atlas cedar (ENDL.) MANETTI EX CARRIÈRE] plantations in Sicily Atlas Cedar has been widely diffused in reforestation in Europe, particularly in France. In Italy, the Atlas Cedar cover about 2600 ha. This paper examines 7 cedar plantations in Sicily, in the various typical condition of the island, evaluating their dendrometric characters in order to estimate productivity and growth capacity. The results show that this specie is both highly suitable for wood production, and has a landscape restoration role in difficult ecological conditions such as the Mediterranean mountain environment is. The stand production is comparable with the better results reported for the French plantations. Some cultivation advices in order to better manage these stands and locally assure natural regeneration are also addressed

Optimizing the Sampling Area across an Old-Growth Forest via UAV-Borne Laser Scanning, GNSS, and Radial Surveying

Aboveground biomass, volume, and basal area are among the most important structural attributes in forestry. Direct measurements are cost-intensive and time-consuming, especially for old-growth forests exhibiting a complex structure over a rugged topography. We defined a methodology to optimize the plot size and the (total) sampling area, allowing for structural attributes with a tolerable error to be estimated. The plot size was assessed by analyzing the semivariogram of a CHM model derived via UAV laser scanning, while the sampling area was based on the calculation of the absolute relative error as a function of allometric relationships. The allometric relationships allowed the structural attributes from trees’ height to be derived. The validation was based on the positioning of a number of trees via total station and GNSS surveys. Since high trees occlude the GNSS signal transmission, a strategy to facilitate the positioning was to fix the solution using the GLONASS constellation alone (showing the highest visibility during the survey), and then using the GPS constellation to increase the position accuracy (up to PDOP~5−10). The tree heights estimated via UAV laser scanning were strongly correlated (r2 = 0.98, RMSE = 2.80 m) with those measured in situ. Assuming a maximum absolute relative error in the estimation of the structural attribute (20% within this work), the proposed methodology allowed the portion of the forest surface (≤60%) to be sampled to be quantified to obtain a low average error in the calculation of the above mentioned structural attributes (≤13