Historical identity of rural areas in the mediterranean and unsustainable land use

The use of agricultural landscape for out-of-context activities is favoured by some effect of globalisation of markets. Localisation of leisure activities needs open rural space only as a physical base, without paying attention to the identity of places and environmental balance. The same could be said as regards some not proper agricultural land uses, which appear more economically profitable in the short run. But evaluations are not provided to support the sustainability of these activities, and, at the same time, participation of different actors, who have different visions of the profitability of the use of rural landscape, is not favoured. This paper reports some experiences where criticism is posed about economic feasibility of such out-of-context uses, and the telling of some processes supported by the construction of data showing different peculiarities of rural zones, supported by negotiation processes, and finally supported by the results of wide evaluations when can change the points of view of stakeholders interacting in the context of the rural landscape of centuries-old olive trees.