Giuseppe Tagarelli

The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is a quintessential symbol of the Mediterranean basin, representing a profound intersection of ecological adaptation, agricultural evolution, and cultural identity. Italy, where the olive has shaped dietary habits, traditional medicine, folklore, and landscape from prehistory to the present, serves as a primary macro-region for studying the co-evolution of human societies and this iconic plant. In this vein, this paper examines the ethnobotanical trajectory of O. europaea on the Italian peninsula through an analysis of traditional knowledge concerning its medicinal and ritual uses, reported in ethnographic literature dating from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century. In addition, we conducted a review of Italian ethnobotanical fieldwork published between 2000 and 2025. Accordingly, olive leaves (used as antihypertensives, febrifuges, hypoglycemic and apotropaic agents), bark and roots (to treat various pathologies) and oil (in rituals for spiritual healing and against evil eye, as an emollient for dermatological pathological and cosmetical conditions and as a vehicle for infusing other therapeutic herbs) have found a central place in the Italian popular pharmacopeia and magic-religious practices. The roots of these traditions have been contextualized within a wider Mediterranean oleo-culture rising from the second millennium BCE. By identifying knowledge gaps, documenting regional ethnobotanical diversity, and connecting historical and contemporary evidence, this work provides a novel framework for future comparative ethnobotanical research. Eventually, a discussion on how contemporary Italy is reframing this botanical legacy through the lenses of agrobiodiversity conservation and the safeguarding of historical rural landscapes against modern threats such as climate change and phytosanitary crises is presented.

Over the centuries, the reclamation of marshy areas has significantly transformed the Italian rural landscape. The Piana di Sibari (North of Calabria) represents a paradigmatic case of this process, because the current landscape is the result of a vast rural transformation. This paper discusses the results of a survey conducted to evaluate students’ knowledge and perception of this “Reclaim Lands” landscape, focusing on their emotional connection and awareness of its cultural and environmental heritage. The survey was administered to 149 middle school and 177 high school students. The study aims to investigate awareness and perception of landscape among mid-to-late adolescents living in the Piana di Sibari, highlighting the key aspects of the relationship between students and the places they inhabit, recognizing the catalytic role of the landscape in fostering a sense of belonging and identity. The results of this survey encourage reflection on a cultural shift that integrates ecological, social, and cultural perspectives, aligned with the European Landscape Convention, advocating for greater investment in youth education and participation to promote active citizenship and chart a course toward a fairer and more sustainable society.

Background: Plant-based remedies have been used since antiquity to treat menstrual-related diseases (MD). From the late nineteenth to the early to mid-twentieth century, Italian folk remedies to treat “women’s diseases” were documented in a vast corpus of literature sources. Aim: The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the plant-based treatments utilized by Italian folk medicine to heal clinical manifestations of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea and menstrual disorders in an attempt to discuss these remedies from a modern pharmacological point of view. Moreover, we compare the medical applications described by Hippocrates with those utilized by Italian folk medicine to check if they result from a sort of continuity of use by over two thousand years. Results: Out of the 54 plants employed in Italian folk medicine, 25 (46.3%) were already documented in the pharmacopoeia of the Corpus Hippocraticum for treating MD. Subsequently, a detailed search of scientific data banks such as Medline and Scopus was undertaken to uncover recent results concerning bioactivities of the plant extracts to treat MD. About 26% of the plants used by Italian folk medicine, nowadays, have undergone human trials to assess their actual efficacy. At the same time, about 41% of these herbal remedies come back to in different countries. Conclusions: Active principles extracted from plants used by Italian folk healers could be a promising source of knowledge and represent strength candidates for future drug discovery for the management of MD.

Calabria is a region of southern Italy characterized by several natural and heritage sites located on seaboard areas, within a distance of 300 m from the coast. In fact, 58 Natura 2000 sites and 63 cultural heritage sites (42.9% of which overlap with the Natura 2000 ones) fall within the borders of the region. Within this context, this study has analyzed the connection between natural and cultural goods in the region, considering both seaboard and human impact risk conditions. The results evidenced that 50% and 21% of the natural and cultural heritage sites, respectively, are exposed to the risk of increasing coastal erosion and heavy human impact. Moreover, in order to highlight how cultural heritage sites could be integrated into natural ones within a process of global coastal area management, three case studies have been discussed. In fact, a new kind of approach to coastal regions through an Integrated Coastal Zone Management is necessary in order to valorize the natural and cultural heritage of coastal regions for the social and economic growth of local people.

This study shows the link connecting natural and cultural goods in the coastal landscape of Calabria (Southern Italy), considering seaboard and human impact risk conditions. In fact, Calabria has 58 Natura 2000 sites located on seaboard areas within a length of 300 meters from coast and 63 cultural heritage sites of which 42.9% coincides with the Natura 2000 network. As a results of this paper, the increasing coastal erosion and a heavy human impact have been highlighted as the main hazards to which the natural and cultural goods are exposed, thus it’s necessary a broader approach for the integration of natural and cultural issues into an active Integrated Coastal Zone Management process

The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investigated. In the present study we address the genetic history of Arbereshe people by combining highly resolved analyses of Y-chromosome lineages and extensive computer simulations. A large set of slow- and fast-evolving molecular markers was typed in different Arbereshe communities from Sicily and Southern Italy (Calabria), as well as in both the putative Balkan source and Italian sink populations. Our results revealed that the considered Arbereshe groups, despite speaking closely related languages and sharing common cultural features, actually experienced diverging genetic histories. The estimated proportions of genetic admixture confirm the tight relationship of Calabrian Arbereshe with modern Albanian populations, in accordance with linguistic hypotheses. On the other hand, population stratification and/or an increased permeability of linguistic and geographic barriers may be hypothesized for Sicilian groups, to account for their partial similarity with Greek populations and their higher levels of local admixture. These processes ultimately resulted in the differential acquisition or preservation of specific paternal lineages by the present-day Arbereshe communities.