Il ruolo dell’utopia, del mito e dell’immaginario nella concezione della geografia di Massimo Quaini

Myth, utopia and the imaginary have represented fundamental categories of geographical thought, as Massimo Quaini highlighted in several of his contributions, which underlined their influence and importance for the history of geography in the construction and development of geographical concepts. The weight and role of these categories of interpretation of geographical reality were particularly important at the time of the great geographical discoveries in the process of opening the European horizon to new worlds, a complex process in which the geographical imaginary represented a stimulus and a push, as it happened for the genesis and development of the Colombian conceptual universe.

Lo sguardo del geografo: Massimo Quaini, l’archeologia, la storia

In this paper we discuss how Massimo Quaini, since the end of the 1960’s, dialogued (or did not) with the sister disciplines of historical geopgraphy: archaeology and social history. We reflect on the experimental path of Quaini “towards a new geographicity” and on the numerous meetings, separations, parallel and divergent routes which had place along it; focusing on Massimo’s experiences and acquaintances in Genoa, those of the Ligurian Study Centre on Deserted Villages and of the debates around population geography and history of material culture, and later those related to the Permanent Seminar on Local History and the long discussion around micro-history and its different outcomes.

Una lettura dell’approccio quainiano alla cartografia attraverso la lente degli ingegneri geografi napoleonici

Massimo Quaini wrote about ninety titles strictly connected to cartography in his long academic career and his large scientific production. Considering this quantity of works, the articles published by Quaini about geographic engineers’ activity represent a seamless thread. In this contribution I examine such articles focusing on the heuristic motivations that have pushed him to put these actors at the centre of his historical-cartographic reflection.

Massimo Quaini: geografia storica, fonti, conoscenze territoriali e loro uso politico e socio-culturale

Quaini's commitment is aimed – with the development of the Gambian concept – towards the construction of a critical and operational historical geography (usable for the aware and sustainable management, institutional planning and socio-cultural use of territories), through innovative theoretical-methodological reflections and concrete case studies: with a focus on the landscape-territorial historicity and the heritage of regions and places, and openness to interdisciplinarity and local knowledge, integrating – with exemplary critical contextualization – the written and graphic documentary sources with those of the terrain.

Massimo Quaini, studioso del paesaggio

Landscape represents, for Massimo Quaini’s research activities and publications, a recurrent and growing focus: from early 70’s studies about rural landscapes of Liguria, to Hérodote/Italia, to later writings directly inquiring this concept and relating its fortune to ‘modernity crisis’, calling for grassroots action in order to reactivate local practices and knowledge, essential for developing landscape potentialities as a political project. This essay reflects upon publications and research experiences which contribute to define the specific legacy of Quaini as a landscape scholar, outlining a unique figure in the Italian context.

Sulla geograficità della ecologia storica: contributi di Massimo Quaini

The paper identifies the main contributions of Massimo Quaini to the problems of historical ecology in its South-European developments and to the definition of geographic-historical microanalysis within geography. It is on this ground that the work of the naturalists/ecologists has most dialogued with his geographical epistemology, starting from the dissatisfaction with the macro-categories of the global scale, the decontextualization of geographic facts and the problems of the “second biologization of the environment”, and drawing new perspectives for geographical action starting from the interpretation of rural and historical-environmental heritage.

Dalla geografia storica all’archeologia del paesaggio e dell’ambiente. Una irrinunciabile eredità di Massimo Quaini

This contribution discusses the legacy of Massimo Quaini’s research in the field of postclassical rchaeology and, in particular, in the study of landscape and environment. Its active participation in the archaeological theoretical debate is highlighted through the analysis of his bibliography and experiences from the 70’s until his last works with the Territorialist Society and the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology and History (LASA) of the University of Genoa.

Paesaggio e musei: sulle tracce di Massimo Quaini

International policies have recently acknowledged the responsibilities of museums towards the landscape. We trace a critical summary of the debate developed in museology and geography about the relationships between museums and the territories and landscapes surrounding them. As stated by Massimo Quaini, the complex challenge posed by these relationships lies in the balancing between conservation of landscapes and local development: a challenge that in the Italian context could be successfully taken on by eco-museums.

Massimo Quaini: la Liguria labirinto e laboratorio

Liguria was the great ‘action scenario’ for Massimo Quaini. A region that, thanks to historical and environmental conditions, allowed him to read in advance phenomena and dynamics that would later occur at a national scale. This contribution does not pretend to exhaust the substance of a relationship that goes beyond the scientific level and involves deep existential bonds, but only to provide some elements to draw a first map of the scientific reasons that have linked the scholar to his land of belonging. This reflection will hopefully serve to define how much Liguria is found in Massimo Quaini’s geographical thinking and how much the Ligurian society should still make use of the sharp portraits the scholar has been able to dedicate to her.

Raccontare, raccontarsi. Massimo Quaini fra biografia ed ‘egogeografia’

Intertwining biographical method and autobiography. Massimo Quaini had shown much interest in the ‘egogeography’ genre, practiced by different French geographers. The work traces back, on the basis of published and unpublished writings, some significant aspect of the intellectual personality of the Italian geographer. In particular, passages are presented in which he recalls his scientific and professional training and some letters that account for the highly critical positioning towards academic power, against the management of competitions based on personal relationships rather than on scientific merits (to the detriment of the discipline itself). Some original documents testify the interest in history and philosophy and the acceptance of historical materialism that has shaped his youth work and, more generally, founded his interpretation of geographical reality.