Lo stato nei boschi. Trasformazioni istituzionali e conflitti ambientali nelle Alpi dell'Ottocento

The subject of this research is the use and the management of forest in few valleys of Eastern Alps during the nineteenth century. In particular, the research examines the effects at the local level of some judicial transformations concerning the use of natural resources introduced during the Napoleonic period and carried out after the Restoration. Geographically, this investigation is concentrated on the area of Cadore, the northern part of Belluno Province. Chronologically, it focuses on the period between the Napoleonic administration of this territory, at the beginning of nineteenth century, and its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy (1866). The research approach combines the consolidated acquisitions of institutional history with the recent proposals of environmental history. The preferred field of analysis is the management of common woodlands. The reason for this choice is simple: in this mountainous area, the attitude adopted to forest resources was crucial to sustaining local population. At the same time, during the nineteenth century State centralization process, forest control was becoming a strategic issue for the governmental authorities, intent on guaranteeing the long-term supplies of timber necessary for urban areas, and limiting down stream hydro-geological flood risk. Rather than the macro-analytic regional or national territorial scale on which studies of similar phenomena are often conducted, I have selected a local and micro-analytical approach. This choice allowed me to focus not only on the forest policies introduced by the government; it also facilitated analysis of these administrative transformations in respect of their reception, application, and mediation at the local level. Finally, the micro-analytical approach allows correlating these aspects with other factors that equally influenced forest resources management, both institutional and socio-economical.