“Along its path, which aims to examine the theme of Landscape from ‘different’ perspectives, the ORIZZONTI Project intercepted an international event of particular significance and charm. Held every three years—on the initiative of the Province and in collaboration with the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia, with the support of many partners—this event has turned Pistoia into a place of reflection, knowledge, and dissemination aimed at exploring and operationalizing the close cultural and functional interdependence between territorial development and landscape quality. This quality must be ensured and maintained through an integrated system of actions aimed at protection, diagnosis, design, restoration, and active enhancement, also utilizing the most advanced and specific technological innovations, far from any archaic or aestheticized nostalgia, but keeping in mind the needs and scenarios presented by contemporary times.”

“Positioned in the timeframe between the second and third editions of ‘Dressing the Landscape’, the Workshop—as can be easily inferred from its ‘work in progress’ title and the program—aimed to contribute to the preparation of the 2013 edition, looking beyond the milestones already achieved.”

“Moreover, as early as the second edition held in July 2010—which focused on the central theme ‘Greenery to Improve the Quality of Life. How the landscape is conceived and produced’—the development of the aforementioned paradigms had already helped strengthen Pistoia’s role as a cultural point of reference in the greenery and landscape sector. This is demonstrated by the ‘numbers’, but above all by the attractive mix of activities: over 500 participants, numerous commentators and journalists largely working for specialized publications, 12 themed exhibitions set up in the historic center of Pistoia, over 15,000 visits to the website which has now become a virtual square for the DL community network, the participation of all the major associations in the sector, and around one hundred prominent speakers from 8 European countries. And, last but not least, the children (over 300) from Pistoia’s primary schools who took part in the ‘I dress in green’ initiative.”

“The Pistoia workshop, not by chance defined as ‘preparatory’, essentially takes on the significance of a ‘mid-term check-up’ that it would perhaps be useful to adopt as a standard practice.”