Cinque Terre National Park: Where Farmland Meets the Sea

The territory of Cinque Terre represent an example of sustainable use of the traditiona ecological knowledge and biological diversity in socio-ecological production landscapes. It is a typical Mediterranean area modified by man during centuries to produce a unique landscape characterised by steep hillsides that drop down to the sea and are marked by a geometry of terraces held up by dry stone walls cultivated with vineyards and its landscape has been recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. About 4200 persons live in the area. Archaeological discoveries, descriptions, place-names and cartography allude to Roman origins for the first settlements of the Cinque Terre (like the Tabula Peutingeriana and l¿Itinerarium Ravennate). What is certain is that from early medieval times to the end of this century, wine growing represented the most common type of agricultural production and the only one to be widely commercialised.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard