Municipality of Naples: Parco metropolitano delle Colline di Napoli - Case Studies

The area included in the “Parco Metropolitano delle Colline di Napoli” is not exclusively devoted to production, but also affected by an agricultural activity whose conservation has the safeguard and the restoration of the land as their main purposes. In fact, this area is interested by transformations aimed to the development of semi-natural ecosystems. The area is mainly characterized by steep slopes and rough tracts: the hydrogeological stability of these lands has been possible thanks to the terracing technique; nevertheless, this stability is often threaten by the building expansion. The farmed lands are often bordering on the residential areas or, conversely, some buildings arise from areas devoted to the agriculture. Some remains of the past agricultural activities still present agricultural systems of remarkable importance, both historical and ecological. The progressive isolation of these lands, effectively involved the conservation of traditional factors, such as the cultivated species and the farming techniques. The urban farms, characterized by a subsistence agriculture of the family run and scarce plots, are considered as valuable sources of biodiversity, with a high ecological importance. Therefore, archaic techniques of farming are easy to be found in these rural areas, which produced some varieties of trees nowadays considered in extinction or superseded by industrial cultivars. Apart from the agricultural use, the areas less suitable for farming are characterized by chestnut coppices, maquis vegetation and spontaneous intercropping. The whole set represents a complex environmental system; besides, the abandoned quarries nearby, which used to cause discontinuity in the agricultural landscape, nowadays represent an evocative scenario, together with the cultivated lands.