Project description

Scholars have linked the rise of scientific forestry between 18th and 19th century primarily to advancements in mathematics, statistics, and geometry. Thanks to the contributions of these disciplines, foresters developed a system of management of wooded areas aimed at ensuring the largest possible production of wood mass without compromising the continuity of extraction over the long term (sustainable yield). At the root of this system was the attempt to quantify and lay out parameters such as the real dimensions of a wood, the volume of wood mass contained in it and, consequently, the monetary value of the product obtainable from it. From this perspective, silviculture is considered a quantitative science aimed at simplifying the complexity of ecological and social dynamics.

However, upon closer examination, it is possible to observe that in the 19th century, the majority of silvicultural writings were still characterized by an empirical approach, with ample space dedicated to historical aspects related to forest management: the evolution of property regimes and customary uses, activities carried out on these lands by the local population, observations related to the evolution of forest surfaces and their characteristics in relation to social, economic, or political dynamics. A notable example is Adolfo di Bérenger, who is considered the founder of Italian forestry school and who dedicated his most important studies to forest “history” and “archaeology”.

Building upon Di Bérenger’s work and writings, this research analyses the development of silviculture in late nineteenth century Italy as a discipline characterised by fluid boundaries, in which statistical and quantitative methods blended with historical-based and qualitative forms of knowledge. This research is part of a broader project on the role of wood during industrialisation, titled Industrial Wood: European Industrialisation as Seen from the Forests (1870-1914).

Short Bio

Giacomo Bonan is full professor in modern history at the University of Turin and PI of the ERC StG 2023 project INWOOD. He has worked at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm; the Centre for the History of the Alps at the University of Italian Switzerland; the Department of History and Cultures at the University of Bologna; the Historisches Seminar at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, the Rachel Carson Center at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and the Department of Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He is member of the editorial board of «Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento» and «Global Environment». He is the author of The State in the Forest (Cambridge, 2019) and Le acque agitate della patria (Rome, 2020). His research interests include forest history; water history; and rural social conflicts associated with modernisation.