Piedmont is confirmed for the sixth consecutive year at the top for good practice with 5 green flags. Aosta Valley and Lombardy follow, both with 4 flags. Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia won three flags each; Trentino, South Tyrol and Liguria one flag each (a little low for the first two, considering the size and importance of their Alpine territory).
It was the 8th National Green Flags Summit, held on 25 May in Chiavenna (SO) together with the conference “Communities in transition”, that crowned this year’s virtuous resorts.
In the field of sustainable agriculture, the awards went, among others, to the Piedmontese Reaction project on the upkeep of chestnut groves through sustainable management of the residual biomass of the chestnut supply chain; and to Valchiavenna in the province of Sondrio, where six organisations are working to revive mountain farming and promote local agricultural varieties.
In the field of conscious tourism, worth mentioning are the literary trek in Veneto, the Alta Via dell’Orso, devised by the Paduan writer Matteo Righetto together with the tourist association of Colle Santa Lucia. And then the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri (GE) and the nearby Borbera Valley (AL), which thanks to the Cammino dei Ribelli is relaunching a depopulated, almost unknown yet marvellous land.
There is the issue of building in mountain areas, alas as thorny as ever. In Piedmont, the municipality of Moncenisio (TO) has begun the renovation and transformation of the Casermette, which together with the Ecomuseum “Le terre al Confine” will be the centre of a process of rebirth for the area.
Then there is the strand on coexistence between humans and large predators, a burning issue. Here, among the winners, are the Dolomiti Bellunesi Park with the project “Living with the wolf is possible”, and the Pasturs project, which works with shepherds on the problems linked to “monticazione”, that is, the grazing of animals on high mountain pastures.
While we refer you further down this page for the full list of the 23 virtuous places, we must not stay silent about the “black flags”.
Legambiente awarded them “to those places that do not take the right path and attack the mountain”.
The ten black banners are distributed as follows: 3 to Piedmont, 2 each to Aosta Valley and Friuli Venezia Giulia, 1 each to South Tyrol, Lombardy and Veneto. The reasons for the citations are essentially of two kinds: those linked to the ski industry in the era of global warming and those concerning transport and roads.
That is, the two critical issues that every well-informed mountain-goer has known well for many years: and that evidently only certain administrations continue to “overlook”.
Perhaps the most striking case, over which a difficult awareness-raising battle is being fought, is that of the Teodulo glacier in Aosta Valley, where between Zermatt and Cervinia bulldozers at work have already inflicted deep wounds on the ever more delicate glacial environment in order to extend the domaines skiables, with the mirage of turning it into a future area for competitive racing.
The 2024 Green and Black Flags of the Italian mountains
PIEDMONT - 5 Green Flags: REACTION project for the sustainable management of the chestnut supply chain; Municipality of Moncenisio (TO) for the renovation and transformation of the Casermette; the work carried out by associations and local organisations of the Cammino dei Ribelli, in Val Borbera (AL), to make the area known through the Cammino dei Ribelli. A green banner also goes to the Piedmont Region for the operation “Compensatory payment for Natura 2000 forest areas” of the 2014-2022 RDP.
3 Black Flags: to the Municipality of Chiusa Pesio (CN) for building the roller-ski track in Valle Pesio; to the Province of Turin for the malfunctioning of the Torre Pellice-Pinerolo-Chivasso railway line. To the municipality of Bardonecchia (TO) for failing to curb the motorised vehicles that invade mountain paths and roads in summer.
AOSTA VALLEY - 4 Green Flags: ranging from the municipality of Champdepraz (AO) for its path towards the “Zero Waste” goal to the social cooperative ExEat for reopening the Alpe Bonze refuge, combining sustainability and social inclusion, including vocational training opportunities for disabled young people. From the municipality of Courmayeur (AO) for setting up a shuttle service linking the valleys to the agricultural project Paysage à Manger, run by the company Semplice Agricola, for the protection and promotion of agricultural biodiversity.
2 Black Flags: the first to the project for an inter-valley farm road backed by the Municipalities of Brusson and Gressoney Saint Jean and by the Aosta Valley Region (AO); the second to Cervino S.p.A. for the assault on the Teodulo glacier with the Matterhorn Cervino Speed Opening project.
LOMBARDY - 4 Green Flags: from Valchiavenna, with six organisations rewarded for reviving mountain farming and promoting local agricultural varieties, to the Società Economica Valtellinese, in Sondrio (SO), for the Montagna 4.0 - FUTURe ALPS training courses. From the Vendrogno Milk Museum, in Bellano (LC), to the social cooperative Eliante Onlus, Coldiretti Bergamo, WWF Italia and WWF Bergamo-Brescia, Orobie Bergamasche Park (and Mont Avic Park-AO) for launching concrete actions to improve coexistence between livestock farming and large predators.
1 Black Flag: to the company RSI srl, controlled by Valle Decia (BG), for the recent revival of a 25-year-old project for an inter-valley link for ski tourism, shelved because of financial and environmental problems.
VENETO - 4 Green Flags: from the literary trek promoted by the writer Matteo Righetto and the Tourist Office of Colle Santa Lucia (BL) with the Alta Via dell’Orso to the project “Living with the wolf is possible” of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park (BL). From the Gruppo Archeologico Cadorino, in Calalzo (BL), committed to protecting and enhancing the existing archaeological heritage, to the association La Calantina and Avviso Pubblico for the restoration and care of the Alpine farmhouse in Calalzo di Cadore (BL).
1 Black Flag: to the Unione Montana Alto Astico for approving the concession contract for the “Fratte” area for the construction of the new Le Fratte – Monte Campolon chairlift.
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA - 3 green flags. To the Carnic Alps Geopark, in Tolmezzo (UD), for promoting knowledge of the geological and scenic heritage of the Carnic Alps. To the CRAMARS Cooperative, and the Municipalities of Tramonti di Sopra, Tramonti di Sotto, Comeglians, Resia, Resiutta, Stregna and Savogna, for having mended community relationships through the project “Living in the mountains again”, starting from the needs of those who live there.
2 Black Flags: to Friuli Venezia Giulia Strade and the town council of Verzegnis (UD) for building a costly and pointless roundabout in the locality of Avons; another black flag to the regional department for productive activities and tourism and Promoturismo Friuli Venezia Giulia for the projects for new ski infrastructure in the Tarvisio area.
LIGURIA, 1 green flag: to the association Alta via dei monti liguri for creating and managing the high-level route of the same name, with a view to extending the season and distributing tourist flows more evenly.
PROVINCE OF TRENTO - 1 green flag to the Edera Cooperative for providing a market opportunity for small organic producers, making it a gathering point in the neighbourhood.
PROVINCE OF BOLZANO - 1 green flag to the Gruppo ambientalisti Val Venosta; AmUm-MeranO; Gruppo ambientalisti Caldaro; Gruppo ambientalisti Val Isarco Hyla; Nature Office of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano; Thomas Wilhalm, creator and coordinator (Gruppo ambientalisti Val Venosta) for the adoption of protected areas (biotopes) by volunteers.
1 Black Flag: to the Municipality of Caldaro (BZ) for designing storage reservoirs that would mean the loss and destruction of 14.9 hectares of woodland of high natural value.
