Landscape Preservation in Italy: The Piedmont Regional Landscape Plan and the Religious Heritage of the Area

Italy, similar to other member states of the European Union, has been subject to processes which have eroded its cultural and landscape heritage. Landscape heritage is multidisciplinary in nature: understanding the different dimensions of landscape heritage is essential to understanding the complexity of landscape heritage itself. Regional Landscape Plans, introduced in 2004 by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, have become an instrument for administration and have led to the sustainable development of plans for preserving cultural and landscape heritage. This study considers the ‘poles of religiosity’ identified in the Regional Landscape Plan in order to guarantee the protection of religious complexes. Some guidelines were applied to the case study of nineteenth-century Marian shrines of Cuneo for the improvement of micro-cultural and landscape identities in the territory.