Italy has quietly crossed a line it had not reached since the Middle Ages. Forest now covers more of the country than farmland.
Woodland stretches across 60,000 square miles of the Italian peninsula, according to a report published this week by the National Union of Mountain Municipalities and Entities. The milestone was officially reached in 2020.
The report says the country’s forests are heavily concentrated in mountain areas and reflect a gradual shift of cultivated land back to woodland.
It also argues the forests provide a large public benefit at no direct cost. In Marcetelli, a municipality in Rieti province where 94 percent of the land is covered by trees, the report says the forests’ natural functions, including carbon storage, water and air filtration, and erosion prevention, would cost about $9.5 million if industrial alternatives were needed.
The increase in forest cover has also coincided with a change in migration patterns in rural Italy.
Over the past two decades, young people increasingly left mountain and rural plain areas for large cities. That led to the abandonment of marginal land and traditionally farmed or grazed land, and emptied small towns, many with habitation records dating back to medieval times.
Since 2021, 932 Italian municipalities have recorded positive net migration of 10 per 1,000 inhabitants, with a significant share of those municipalities located in heavily forested areas.
Away from the coasts, Italy’s geography is dominated by the Alps, the pre-Alpine hills, the North Italian Plain and the Apennines. The three mountain regions and their 3,598 municipalities account for three-quarters of Italy’s total forest area, while holding 13.5 percent of the population.
The report says the expansion of woodland also benefits wildlife in mountain areas, including bears and wolves. It points to opportunities for eco-tourism and sustainable forestry, and says the spread of habitat for wild boar and red deer could support hunters who supply restaurants with game meat.
It also notes many of the forests have expanded onto former agricultural land once worked by farmers and ranchers.
The source text says that of the five most wooded municipalities in Italy, two are in the province of Perugia and two are in Udine.
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