Il paesaggio di lago in Europa tra natura e cultura : l’approccio geografico

The lake represents an important element for the study of physical and anthropic landscapes, an object of considerable interest for all branches of geography. While, on the one hand, a lake is the result of a precise physical and geomorphological matrix, on the other it has always represented a preferred site for human settlement. Countless "lake cultures" have developed over the centuries, which are particularly interesting to studying the relations between man and his territory. In this paper we illustrate how the relationship between nature and anthropic action is expressed in the territorialising role assumed by lakes over the course of history. The geographical approach is not limited to an analysis of the landscape characteristics of the settlements that have grew up around lakes, but also examines an intangible cultural dimension. Therefore, the lake is not only an interesting "geographical type" (to use a classic geographical term developed by Olinto Marinelli in his Atlante dei tipi geografici, 1922), but also a (cultural, tourist, recreational)image that has grown up and developed thanks to the contribution of travel reports, literature, photography and cinema. Using an interdisciplinary approach, geography also examines these aspects in order to explore the temporal evolution of the cultural image of lakes.