Transhumance, the traditional pastoral practice of seasonal migration of livestock along sheep tracks to better climatic conditions, has been unanimously inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, as decided by the Intergovernmental Committee in Bogota. Italy thus acquires the record for inscriptions in the rural and agri-food sector, surpassing Turkey and Belgium. There is satisfaction with UNESCO’s choice. The favorable opinion expressed by the 24 countries during the Intergovernmental Committee meeting in Bogota, Colombia, is of great interest to the whole of Italy. The traditional custom involves the municipalities of Anzio Nettuno, Aprilia, and Cisterna, where the populations that practiced sheep farming, coming from the Simbruini mountains and the Frusinate area, settled permanently in the plains and on the coast. Transhumant shepherds, as highlighted in the application dossier submitted by Italy together with Greece and Austria to UNESCO, have a deep understanding of the environment, the ecological balance between man and nature, and climate change: it is, in fact, one of the most sustainable and efficient methods of livestock farming. Today, transhumance is practiced mainly in Molise, Abruzzo, Puglia, Lazio, and Campania, and in the north between Italy and Austria in South Tyrol, Lombardy, Valle d’Aosta, Sardinia, and Veneto.
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