Dalla tutela del paesaggio alla salvaguardia dell'ambiente. Via italiana e quadro europeo: 1900-1939.

Naples boasts one of the first dispositions for landscape protection in Italy, the regulation of building volumes downline of the course Maria Teresa (1853). It actually represented a particular application of an elementary practice at the time largely widespread to regulating the urban transformations, i.e. to establish sizes and volumes of new buildings and sometimes even an homogenous architectural design of the facades. By choosing these origins, the Italian culture has shown how, in the elaboration of concepts and operational tools, basically he could not overcome his starting point. The concept of environment, a set of activities and artifacts in changing, but conscious equilibrium with the resources which shows itself in the image of landscape, characterised the movement of "Heimatschutz” in Central Europe, but has never made inroads into the Italian culture for which the word often became synonymous with "ambience". The concept of environment was rather approached through ethnography, the study of "rural dwelling." Also in this case Naples has played a role. Another key to a reading of the landscape as construction, rather than image, was offered by historians (one of them gave his name to a fundamental, albeit limited legislative provision) and by archaeologists, whose skills are today heavily put in question at the institutional level. Rethinking this problem - at European level - is a first step to adapt the parameters, to specify the objectives, to overcome the fictitious conflict between "sustainability" and landscape protection. In urban districts characterized by a dense urbanization, nad by the continually changing problems which it has triggered and, the task is certainly relevant, and the notion of "construction" which also applies to the territory, may be an useful bridge to overcome another discrepancy ,the “distracted” perception of the buildings, when they represent only "environmental" values. Naples has to its credit the ones that historians consider the first measures in Italy for landscape protection. They consist essentially in regulating construction along the streets of the city from which people enjoyed the best views towards the bay. This was a particular application of a practice already widespread, ie to set particular dimensions and volumes and sometimes even common characters of the buildings in their bodies overlooking the street. Choosing these origins, the Italian culture would show how, in the elaboration of concepts and operational tools, basically it did not succeed to overcome its starting point. The concept of environment, a set of activities and artifacts in changing, but conscious equilibrium with natural resources, which is reflected in the shape of the landscape, characterises the Heimatschutz movement in Central Europe, but has never find its way in Italian society, for which the word often became synonymous with "background". Retracing this history - the genesis of the legislation, the administration, the culture of its protagonists – we can not however denied that, in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Italian elites were well informed on the latest initiatives of neighboring countries. The whole of Europe was coming to seize the serious consequences of environmental degradation due to industrialization mainly through aesthetic categories. The Italietta was able to adopt Europe-wide laws, and the work was completed not by chance during the two governments of Francesco Saverio Nitti, and, with the last Giolitti government, by Benedetto Croce as Minister of Education. Then, the origins, drawn from another "regnicolo" Luigi Parpagliolo, could be interpreted in a whole different way. Symmetrically, also the evaluation of the Law 1497 (1939) could change and criticism of Antonio Cederna, forty years ago, would not be unfounded. After these episodes, for over half a century, even the planning instruments were frequently altered, or remain dead letter, and the only measure for the protection of some effectiveness - thought as temporary and never actually replaced by the dispositions that were to succeed him, bears its name - the irony of History transcends not rarely in sarcasm - of a great historian of the Kingdom of Naples, Giuseppe Galasso.