Dal racconto al paesaggio. La narrazione come strumento progettuale nel recupero degli spazi agricoli di versante (Valtellina, Alpi centrali)

With the recent unfolding of several landscape recovery projects, the terraced landscape of Media Valtellina (Central Alps, Lombardia) gained a crucial consideration in the public discourse, both on a national and a transboundary, international level. Such projects focus on restoring the traditional rural heritage, allowing a new wave of agricultural and touristic initiatives to take place on the terraced slopes. Relying on narrative interviews with key informants within the “Emblematici” project framework, the essay explores the contemporary culture of the agricultural terracing in a highly significant region. Our discourse embraces questions related to the symbolic and cultural dimension of the terracing, the everyday labour the takes place on the slopes, the future perspectives of the agricultural sector, and the constituent role of the abandonment in the formation of the cultural landscape.