**5. A second product: landscape**

In reality, the "landscape" is a vast and difficult subject to circumscribe also because it is a concept that has undergone a profound evolution over time. The European Landscape Convention, Florence, 20.X.2000 defined that "The member states of the Council of Europe signatory hereto,…. Noting that the landscape has an important public interest role in the cultural, ecological, environmental, and social fields, and constitutes a resource favorable to economic activity and whose protection, management, and planning can contribute to job creation; Aware that the landscape contributes to the formation of local cultures and that it is a basic component of the European natural and cultural heritage, contributing to human well-being and consolidation of the European identity;…." [12].

The landscape is, therefore, the heterogeneous set of all the elements, processes, and interactions that make up the ecosphere, considered in its unitary and differentiated structure and in which the activities of nature and man are integrated, in their historical dimension. Material, cultural, and spiritual.

"Cultural Route of the Council of Europe" certified in 2005 that "The presence of the olive tree has marked not only the landscape but also the everyday lives of the Mediterranean peoples. As a mythical and sacred tree, it is associated with their rites and customs and has influenced their lifestyles, creating a specific ancient civilization, the "Olive Tree Civilization": the Routes of the Olive Tree follow in the footsteps of this civilization, from Greece toward the Euro-Mediterranean countries. The olive tree dates back millions of years. Wild olive trees, ancestors of the domesticated ones, can still be seen in the Peloponnese, Crete, North Africa, and the Middle East, their places of origin. The relationship between this tree and human civilization has produced an immensely rich, living cultural heritage, embedded in the everyday habits of the Mediterranean people. From gastronomy, with the crucial influence of olive oil, to art and traditions, the social development of these areas has been largely shaped by the olive tree" [13].

The olive tree participates in the formation of a multiplicity of landscapes in relation to the different cultural structures that have been defined in the long process of adaptation of the species to the different environmental characteristics of the places. uneven orography of the most disadvantaged areas, to the more or less specialized systems of the hilly areas, to the intensive monoculture of the plains. In addition to the landscape diversity dictated by the cultivation practices, strongly changing aesthetic connotations are impressed on the territory by the different olive models adopted, the result of that continuous centuries-old adaptation of cultivation techniques to environmental conditions, whether linked to the company structure and to the edaphic and climatic conditions or the economic and social structure that has gone through human history, where the olive trees were associated with a myriad of other crops, which ensured the livelihood of peasant families, reinforcing the typical geometries of poly-cultural systems (olive trees placed at the edge of the vineyards or between the rows, inserted together with almond and carob trees, confined within the

### *The Olive Tree: A Symbol DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102827*

vegetable gardens or placed at the edge of citrus groves) or interrupting the monotony of progress of arable land (**Figure 10**).

With the development of olive growing in vast territories of the island, and particularly starting from fifteenth to eighteenth century, the presence of plots with higher specialization, it begins to become more consistent, to the point of characterizing, in subsequent phases, the crop structure of entire territories, especially hilly areas. This singular olive type, defined as "traditional," still constitutes wealth for the area today due to the important role it fulfills in hydro-geological defense and in the qualification of the landscape. As a result of the millennial interaction between different environmental, social, and cultural factors, it is still possible today in many countries to find the numerous systems and landscapes of the olive tree that have accompanied its history.

In the most marginal conditions, on sloping land, on the narrowest terraces, the olive tree participates in the formation of the systems and landscapes of mixed cultivation where these systems survive the rural exodus of farmers.

These olive-growing systems frequently constitute tiles within a mosaic formed by very fragmented agricultural systems of different types and with high landscape diversity. Olive groves which, thanks to the capacity of self-regeneration, typical of the species, have resisted over time giving rise to specimens of large and very large dimensions defined by Pirandello Saracens for their almost legendary antiquity. Where the orographic conditions are more favorable to productive rationalization processes, the olive cultivation becomes more specialized while only partially maintaining the characteristics of traditional olive-growing systems. Some modifications of the cultivation model which concern the containment of the volume and height of the canopy contribute to differentiate it, to favor and economize the practices of defense, pruning and harvesting, and a reduction of the planting distances, which become regular, to increase the productivity of olive groves. It is amongst the olives grown for oil that it is difficult to indicate a single type of plant. As a result of the different densities adopted, the distances and the planting width vary, with evident reflections on the geometry of the olive groves. In many cases, the plant model and its landscape impact depend on the genotype and, in particular, on the bearing of the plants, on their vigor as well as on morphological characteristics, such as shape, size, and color itself, of the leaves.

Literature also highlights the qualities and prerogatives of the olive tree: its resistance to time and bad weather, the usefulness of its fruit, the sense of peace and serenity that it gives to men with the soft and pale green of its branches. The olive tree is a resistant plant—it sinks its roots firmly into the stony ground, it takes many years to become a plant that bears fruit, but, as it was slow in growing, it lasts a long time.

**Figure 10.** *Some examples of landscapes characterized by the presence of olive trees.* It binds several generations together, giving fathers the satisfaction of having planted a tree not for their own good, but for that of their children and posterity. The fruit of the olive tree is precious because the oil not only gives nourishment but also light in the lamp; and like light, it accompanies us to the deathbed. Undoubtedly the olive tree is a plant that inspires feelings very close to those of the poet: peace, which is the opposite of the hatred depicted in old castles (manors); generosity toward others (the precious gift of its fruit); goodness, which is the opposite of badness.
