The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies announces that this morning, in Paris, the transnational candidacy of "La Transumanza" as an intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO humanity was formally presented.
The candidacy has been put forward by Italy as a leader together with Greece and Austria.
With the signing of the transnational candidacy dossier by the Permanent Representative of Italy to UNESCO, Amb. Vincenza Lomonaco, together with his counterparts from Austria and Greece, the international evaluation process has been formally launched, which will involve a body of independent technical experts and then the subsequent decision by the UNESCO Governing Committee in November 2019.
The traditional practice of Transhumance represents the seasonal migration of flocks, herds and shepherds who, together with their dogs and their horses, move in different climatic zones, traveling along the semi-natural paths of the sheep tracks. The journey lasts for days and stops are made in pre-established places, known as "post stations".
Transhumance as a cultural element, with a strong identity content, has known over the centuries to create strong social and cultural bonds between practitioners and the inhabited centers they cross, as well as to represent a sustainable economic activity characterized by a particular relationship between man and nature, influencing the his symbolic charge is all the fields of art.
Transhumance is still practiced both in Central and Southern Italy, where the Tratturi Regi are located, starting from Amatrice (in the main square historically held the great party of transhumant shepherds) and Ceccano in Lazio to Aversa degli Abruzzi and Pescocostanzo in Abruzzo , from Frosolone in Molise to the Gargano in Puglia. Transhumant shepherds are still active in the Alpine area, in particular in Lombardy and in Val Senales in South Tyrol.
The drafting of the application dossier, coordinated internationally by the UNESCO Working Group of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, chaired by prof. Pier Luigi Petrillo, has seen the active involvement of the Italian communities that in recent years have actively worked on the enhancement and protection of transhumance and the fundamental contribution of families and pastors who have been able to maintain the vitality of the practice over the years, despite socio-economic difficulties and depopulation of rural areas.