The Arco Landscape Factory: Conservation, Valorisation and Use of the Rural Heritage

Terraced landscapes testify to a historical culture that has developed innovative technologies to meet the dual needs of food production and environmental sustainability, using available resources in simple and ingenious ways. Terraces were built by skilled farmers. Today they have great value, both for their cultural significance and for their very visual impact on the surrounding area. Dry stone walls, ‘symbiotic’ with the construction of this landscape, create a system that must be preserved, managed and improved to maintain its aesthetic qualities, agri-cultural vitality, ecological balance, cultural and historical significance and local identity. The terraced agricultural landscape of Arco is studied. An area that overlooks the northern part of Lake Garda and that for over a century has been the catalyzer of efforts to enhance and preserve its particular environment. The objective is to exploit the potential of the present, trying to reactivate terraced landscapes through visions, able to combine agriculture and tourism in a conscious relationship with nature and quality, to generate a new well-being for people.